Ravel Quest (On Break)
by Just a Bad Writer for Fun
Summary: I was floating in an endless ocean, falling before an endless sky. I was asked three questions that would determine my fate. A person, a power, and an emotion. One chose, one gained, one loss. Now I find myself in a world of Supernatural entities and all that I can think of is a certain Phenex girl. I blame the deceased God.
1. A Renewed Life

**Volume 1 – A Quest Worth Completing  
Chapter 1 – A Renewed Life**

_It felt like I was drowning, falling within an endless sea with a bottomless pit, stretching out to infinity and even beyond that…_

_Bubbles of pure blackness rose up from beneath me, tickling my bare skin, rising past me and into the fading white light above._

_My eyes were closed halfway, the light within fading._

_My pupils dilated, the beat of my heart slowing, my pulse shortening._

_I couldn't breathe._

_I couldn't hear._

_It felt like I was drowning, within the endless horizon of the sky, light blue into dark blue, with a light red mixed between, white clouds floating in the backdrop and a sun directly above me, shining down upon me as black-tipped white feathers slowly drifted up above me, brushing past my bare skin, tickling me._

_My eyes shined a light, a warmth foreign to me. The sun inverted in color, turning from a golden red to a silver-blue. The sky that stretched on and on, from all directions around that inverted sky, became an altered form of itself; gone were the blues and reds, welcoming the purples and greens. The bubbles that once were birthed from under me now were borne of pure white._

_A unique sky surrounded a unique sun, risen above the unique bubbles. But what of the black-tipped feathers? Even as I traced the feathers, I didn't spot a difference. However, as I spied them as I drifted down as if I was drowning within an endless sea that held a bottomless pit, deeper than any Hell, I noticed that the feathers had made a simple change; from black-tipped and white, they became white-tipped and black feathers._

_An odd difference, but one that made sense._

_Much like the sun, the sky, and the bubbles, the feathers possessed their own unique change._

_But even as I stared after the feathers which rose up higher and higher into the sky, a white light flashed._

_A black-light shined._

_A red light stung._

_A blue light soothed._

_A green light calmed._

_Lights danced against and within my retinas, their backdrop the sun and the sky, the black clouds and the feathers, and not forgetting the bubbles that rose from beneath me._

_Stinging my eyes yet soothing them. Like a packet of ice being held to burning flesh. Opposites, destructive forces meeting restorative powers._

_It felt as if my being was being rekindled._

_I was becoming whole or rotting away. Was I rotting or was I whole? It was hard to say for sure. But I knew one thing; this was the end, the beginning, the middle, and the life and death itself. The path less tread but filled with imprints. The origin of the river, but the lake it flowed into._

**What is the most precious thing to you?**

_The most precious? That would have to be…_

_Her smiling face, her soft cheeks, her ample breast, her shining eyes, her flowing hair. That image, that singular form that she possessed, flashed through my eyes without warning._

_I didn't even think about it that much. Yet, that was my answer. Regardless of everything that had transpired within my life, she was what I had thought to be the most precious thing to me? Thing, it said, but I thought of an individual._

_It was odd._

_As if something pushed through my subconscious and chose what I held the most affection for, something that wasn't even real and would never be real._

_If I could hold a lengthy amount of time, turning thoughts into words, experience into thoughts, I would come up with a completely different answer. But this moment of change, an offhanded thought, a selfish thought, something that flashes into your mind that you don't mean – changed everything for me. I couldn't tell why, but that was the feeling that I had received._

_Even as my thoughts went on to describe everything that I felt with this single pick, this image that flashed into my retinas for a nanosecond, the atmosphere changed._

_The sun became a scorching red with yellow barks extending from it. The clouds turned green, a light green that almost shone like the rich grass or an emerald. The feathers brightened, becoming red-tipped orange feathers of a bird of prey. The sky transformed into a blue, like a sapphire or the ocean._

_Bubbles arose around me before popping into flames._

**If you could gain one thing, what would it be?**

_A similar question, but different. Whether it's phrased differently or not, the true meaning that reached me was different._

_The last question asked of a thing. Yet, an individual flickered into view._

_This question asked of a thing. Yet, a power floated into sight._

_It was odd._

_Sand entrapped within the glass, flitting piece by piece, grain by grain, down a tiny hole. An hourglass, I realized._

_Time, ever moving forward, yet never back. If I were to transform into a Sphinx, I would ask this riddle: What moves forward, yet never back? The answer would be time._

_No matter what form I design it to be, it always goes back to being that of time. An hourglass, a watch, a clock, a sundial. Time clicks on by, and death will happen. It doesn't matter. Be it living, inorganic, or even something that possesses no true form; fire, water, lightning, even something as crazy as magic._

_All returns to zero. All returns to death._

_Aging, turning to sand, returning to the beginning. No, fast-forwarding to death. A clock, moving forward, at speeds faster than it should. Time runs out, for everyone. But it can be reversed. Time can move back. After all, if it has an end, it must have a beginning._

_The feathers moved erratically. Rather, a third danced upwards faster than they should, a third drifted downwards faster than they should, and the last third stayed in place._

_Clouds spun around, running off at fast speeds, returning at fast speeds, or staying still, as if frozen like a statue._

_The blazing sun slowed, yet it moved faster. It stilled, yet it continued._

_The sky expanded endlessly, yet it shrank, and even still, it froze in space._

_Bubbles appeared and popped. Bubbles popped and appeared. Bubbles turned into flames and bubbles burst from flames._

**If you had to lose one thing, what is it?**

_Another question that remarks of a thing._

_The first was of a person. The second was of power. The third was of an emotion._

_Spring sprang around me but rose into summer. Summer gave way to the fall, which fell into the winter. Yet winter yielded to the spring. Yet, I will feel nothing of this anymore. Not now, not ever. No matter what I gain or what I lose, this emotion has faded._

_The emotion of awe. I will never be excited by such magnificent sights' everlasting. I will never feel respect; fear and wonder burned together will never go noticed by me._

_Awe; encompassing admiration, elevation, the sublime and wonder. Another way to describe would be of reverential respect burned together with fear or wonder. Perhaps I'll be immune to fear?_

_No, I will be. I can tell. I no longer feared to drown. Falling, through the sky. Drowning, within the ocean. The two I felt together, felt like nothing now. I was just there. Lying down, falling through the air, drifting within the waves._

_Bubbles of pure black rose around me, warmth spreading through them and into me. The sky chilled a bright blue, a sapphire dancing within it. The clouds danced in tune, weeping with rain upon me. The sun burned a harsh red, bleeding an orange of flame. The feathers drifted of time, tickling my form and encompassing me._

_I would be reset. Rather, I will live again. I will see again, hear again, smell again, feel again, and taste again._

_The sun drawn upon me, the sky enveloped me, the bubbles carried me, and the feathers consumed me. Time drifted forward, yet a river stretched endlessly behind, beyond the barrier. Feelings of awe scattered, fear turning asunder, admiration crackling and respect withering away._

_I felt my breath hitch._

_And then it all changed; I was born again, within a unique world._

* * *

**Hey guys, welcome back! It's been a little while.**

**This story is completely casual; it's not really going to be that serious. "Ravel Quest" will be an SI, so if you don't like those... well, I'm sorry. And, if it wasn't already clear, the main love interest (and probably only love interest) will be Ravel. How will this work? Hell if I know; I'm just as much in the dark as you guys are.**

**The average length of the chapters shouldn't be that long, but it could get much longer as it goes on. I'd rather this just be a quick sit down and write, followed by uploading it.**

**For those of you curious about Deus Vult - it will come back when it does. That's all I will say here. For those of you curious about the three questions - they are the three main ingredients of this fic; of interest, of ability, and of flaw.**

**His interest in Ravel. His ability of time. His fault of awe. An increased affection, a gained ability, and the loss of emotion - those three things will make up "myself". Along with everything else consuming me, with some subtle differences to make this not an exact replica, even if it is a dirty SI.**

**Anyway, what were your thoughts on this? CrimsonPyre looked over it - and if he's the first comment, so help me, deceased God... *Cough* Well, I'll let y'all go from here. Follow if you want to continue reading it, favorite if you really liked it and want to tell me that you want to see more, and review telling me your thoughts.**

**I'd really like to know what you think of this chapter and what will be happening from here on. Ciao!**


	2. Seven-Years

**Volume 1 – A Quest Worth Completing  
Chapter 2 – Seven-Years**

Being born again was not the greatest of experiences. My retinas burned, even a small movement hurt, and I just felt sick all over. I wanted to barf; that was how bad it was. I cried and shrieked, and I just couldn't shut myself up.

I felt bad for my parents, but that's simply how it was.

My life afterward was a bit of a blur. It wasn't that I couldn't process what was happening; I just ignored it. I didn't want to remember myself when I shat in my diapers or when I threw up over my mother and father or even when I peed my bed.

Honestly, it was pathetic and embarrassing.

Luckily for me, it didn't really affect me that much. With no awe, I felt no pride in myself, giving me the ability to make a fool of myself and not feel pain afterward. Nothing was holding me back; it was just the embarrassment to deal with.

And like this, seven years went on by.

My parents quickly found out that I was a genius; after all, I had things to do in this life, even if I didn't know what all of it would entail. Either way, I moved through life at a slow crawl, careful to avoid being seen as weird. I waited patiently until I was taught how to read – which wasn't difficult as it was just English and that was my previous primary language – but I had to feign ignorance, at least, for a time. After a while, I started to "catch on" really quickly and ended up mastering the English language.

I was a bit better I'd say than in my previous life, but that wasn't my goal. I quickly began to casually read an English-to-Japanese book so that I could potentially move to Japan. After all, the plot was located there, thus, that was where I must go. I couldn't exactly go there without knowing Japanese and being reincarnated into a Devil was definitely not in my to-do list. At least for now. Being Ravel's Queen certainly had some advantages, but she wasn't even interested in having a peerage in the first place!

It was tiring. But currently, my goal was simply learning Japanese, a second language.

I had a little bit of knowledge of the language from my past life, but even that little bit of knowledge didn't help me one bit. I was familiar with a few things, sure, but it's much more different than hearing it in an anime and actually saying it in an actual conversation.

Not like I had anyone to practice with.

When my parents found out, they taught me a spell. Well, they didn't really teach it to me – they just did it to me.

Turns out, they were Magicians and the spell that they used allowed me to communicate in any spoken language. I'd understand it as my own, but I wouldn't be able to read it. According to their explanations, if I wanted to learn additional languages, doing this would help me master them at a much faster rate.

Perhaps seeing me learn English so quickly, they wanted to see how far I'd go? It definitely fit in a family of Magicians who was all about advancements and personal success, talent was welcomed with splendor.

Speaking of them, I did recognize the last name – though it wasn't one I heard from the series of DxD itself, but one through reading certain books and hearing it in Fullmetal Alchemist. It was the last name of "Flamel".

It turns out that I'm the descendant of an alchemist who may or may not has discovered the Philosopher's Stone. However, given their magical nature, our ancestor must have discovered it, though where he went, who's to say? If one were to check his grave, they'd find not even a piece of cloth, much less a bone, so props to him, I guess.

With this magic circle engraved into the back of my right hand, I quickly mastered Japanese. With my parents reading out the words, I was able to comprehend what each kanji and katakana meant. Well, it was a slow process; it only took several months and that was with them focusing on teaching me it.

They promised that when I was older, I would be able to learn magic, that I would start my studies in earnest. It was actually quite exhausting; I wanted to spend some of that time training in Senjutsu, but I suppose I had no idea how to do that. I had previously attempted it when I was but a small baby and was unable to really go anywhere, but no matter how hard I had concentrated, nothing would happen.

Perhaps I was just too young, weak, and inexperienced? I was definitely not incompetent. If Sairaorg can utilize Touki without formerly training in the Senjutsu-arts, then I can do it too!

Either way, time moved on, like a never-ending river. By the time I was five, I had learned several other languages, excluding the two I had first learned. They were Latin, French, Germany, and even Greek. Learning languages through magic was incredibly easy; especially after getting Latin under my belt. Everything just became so casual that I didn't even need help with that language deciphering magic circle.

Up until this point, I had forbidden myself to utilize my latent power; that of time. When I was first conceived into this world and my thoughts began anew, I felt as if death himself had wrapped his hands around me, attempting to smolder me. I burned up, yet I felt cold.

It was then that I had realized my plight. I realized that while I felt like my life lasted an eternity, an infinite number of years, it also felt as if I would die in the next moment. Zero and infinity. That was what I believed my life span was; after all, you cannot kill time, but it can end and begin.

I was incredibly unnerved, but I had decided then and there, that I would not attempt to manipulate that of time until I was old enough.

When I was seven, that time had passed. It definitely did, as I faced a near-death encounter. My first visit with a Supernatural entity that was hostile to me.

A Stray Devil. A being of pure evil that had once served under a master who had previously reincarnated them into a Devil to serve within their peerage. Some killed their masters and fled while others merely ran. They were hunted down when they're found due to them targeting humans. A despicable bunch, with the only known member being who was even considered good being that of Kuroka, Koneko's older sister.

And this was my first meeting with one. Within a location, darkened by that of night, hidden away, covered by walls. An abandoned factory. I had felt something within those walls, thus I decided to investigate.

As a young and curious boy, you cannot blame me, even though I clearly knew that I was about to fight for my life; with an ominous feeling in the air and the smell of blood, I could only be called an idiot for moving forward towards it.

And yet, I did. I had to. I had to become stronger, right here and now. Else I would never attain my goal, a goal that I neither wished for nor wanted, but craved with every fiber of my being.

If I wanted to be with her, then I had to become strong.

With that thought process, I advanced forward and towards my impending doom.

* * *

**Hey guys, welcome to chapter second! I'd like to thank all of you for following/favoriting and those that reviewed! Let's just make this quick and get straight to the reviews that were left!**

**CrimsonPyre: **_Welcome back, old friend. I can't wait to see what this... yandere OC will do with our little Phenex Girl. Godspeed your Sliminess!~_

**My response:** _I knew you'd say something about him being yandere! Damnit!_

**Rodvek97: **_interesting Story. hope you Will release the next chapter soon_

**My response:**_ Yeah, totally! In fact, I just uploaded it; pretty cool, yeah?_

**Guest:** _Interesting story so far keep it up!_

**My response: **_Thank you for reading it!_

**Hoxto: **_I feel like Ravel is unappreciated so i'm looking forward to more of this. Ravel best girl don't me_

**My response:**_ Yeah, she's in top three for me, personally._

**Thank you again for reading, and if you've enjoyed and would like to see more, please follow! Ciao!**


	3. Stray Devil

**Volume 1 – A Quest Worth Completing  
Chapter 3 – Stray Devil**

I climbed up upon the tree, searching out a distance with my eyes. My right hand went up over my head, held sideways against it over my eyebrows as if doing so would extend my sight.

The moon hung above my head and my parents didn't know that I had escaped under the moonlight. Though I felt a bit bad for sneaking out, even though they've told me time and time again to not do so, I was simply far too curious.

'_This was the world of DxD; there had to be something Supernatural going on!_' I felt the excitement bubbling up within my chest at the thought, racing through my mind like a jet through the sky. Looking left and right, I spotted an industrial area up ahead.

I had gone rather far out this night, farther than I had ever gone before, so I was momentarily surprised at the sight.

'_An abandoned factory, possibly… that sounds like a good place to start looking!_' With a slight smile touching upon my lips, I gazed down at the ground. I had to have been twenty meters up from it; if I fell, I could seriously be in some trouble, yet I felt nothing. No fear graced my chest, sending my heart beating faster than ever before.

I simply stared down at the darkened green grass and slowly made my way down. When I was close enough to the ground, I let go and hit the ground hard. Shockwaves crept up through my feet and up to my knees, but I was uninjured.

Wiping my hands across my black dress pants as if I was wiping away some dust, I stepped away from where I had landed upon the ground, the slightly wet grass cold to my brown dress shoes. I rolled back my shoulders, covered by a white dress shirt and over that, a sleeveless black vest with a design of diamonds going across it.

Licking my lips, I hurried forward, my blue aqua eyes searching the ground for any roots or holes, making sure I didn't fall and stain my clothing. My black hair fell into view from its previously combed manner, which made me frown. Taking a moment to pause, I ruffled up my own hair and placed it into a manner that I was fine and more comfortable with; slightly spiky and disheveled with the bangs going just down to my eyes.

Smiling once more, I hurried on forward, being careful to watch my step.

It took about half an hour, but I managed to make it to the tall, stonework buildings that I had previously spotted from the treetop earlier. Though I couldn't exactly tell if any were abandoned, I never heard of any factories in this area, so I just assumed so.

Looking at the stone that made up the walls, I scanned them in search of cracks, but under the pale light of the moon, nothing sprang into view that gave me the impression of an abandoned factory; and yet, I still decided to confer to them as such.

Walking forward against the stone pavement, my shoes making soft '_thunks_' against the ground with each step, I looked around, curiosity sprinkled into my eyes like a shining beacon. I didn't know how long I had been walking; my legs burned a bit from the exercise and my eyes burned with fatigue. I was getting sleepy, yet I continued onward.

Then, as I peeked into the next building that I came upon, I felt an ominous feeling. Breathing in through my eyes, I could smell blood in the air. How I didn't notice it earlier, escaped my mind.

The only thing that I thought, was that this was it. This place would be where I would die; if I was a normal person. I could already tell what would be inside this building, this abandoned factory situated in the middle of nowhere near the territory of my parents'.

Though I would've normally felt frightened by such a thought, nothing that intense moved me. My mind was clear, my heart was clear, and my goal was clear: Defeat the Stray Devil lying within.

Making up my mind, I walked into the abandoned factory and into my impending doom.

Breathing out a silky-smooth breath, I looked around the interior of the factor, or rather, I tried to look around.

The amount of moonlight that dripped into the building was insignificant to the space that was within. I could somewhat see in front of me as my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, but not by much and the farther I entered the building, the less light I was provided. While there were windows, it was more of a problem with the intensity of the light.

Then, I stopped. Looking down, I stared into the liquid pooling out from under me. It reminded me of a bucket of water that was upended, the water scattering against the ground with force. However, instead of it being water, it would be much better to suggest that it was blood instead.

Pulling my foot out of the blood, I walked around it, leaving behind bloodied footprints with my right foot. '_They're going to freak out at this,_' I thought to myself with a wry smile, a sweat drop slipping down my forehead. '_I'll just make something up to explain it._'

As I began to prep my excuse, a wheezing sound sung through the air, painfully, as if they haven't spoken in a long time and that English was not their first language.

"Little boy, little boy… why have you chosen to enter my lair for this night?"

I blinked and replied without a shift in my expression, raising my voice loud enough to hear an echo.

"I smelled blood, so I took a look."

The voice laughed with a cackle, forcing each sound out of their mouth and between their lips with great force and pain. Finally, they coughed, ending the terrible laughter. I wiped away some sweat that marked my forehead casually, waiting for them to continue. It took a few moments, during which I heard some scuttling sounds, as if something dull, yet sharp, was being pressed against stone, which moved closer to me with each sound that entered my ears.

"How amusing, your answer that is," the voice spoke, now with a harsh rasp. Wheezing slightly, I heard the voice now from behind me. Tensing my muscles together, I listened intently for the first sounds of something coming towards me. "You don't have to worry… you won't be able to dodge anyway."

Then, scraping entered my ears and I immediately jumped out of the way, to my right. I rolled against the ground, the cracked stone cutting into my pants leg beside my knee as I rolled against it. Coming up to a stand with a hop, I turned and faced the Stray Devil that had deigned to show itself.

He was large, larger than me, and his body was certainly freaky. It was as if a man had bred himself with a spider and it came out as a giant monstrosity, at least the size of a small pickup truck.

With the body of a black spider, red markings lining its body and back, while its hairy limbs were clear of any such features, its head was that of a human with fangs, though there were three pairs of eyes dotted across his head, a total of six peering down at me, a smile upon his lips.

His eyes were blackened completely, with no visible pupils, while his nose was scrunched up and pressed against his face as if someone took a hammer to it and screwed the nose in. The mouth possessed only razor-sharp teeth that gleamed in the dull moonlight.

"Surprised… but now that you've seen me, please don't quake in fear. That ruins the meal." The spider-man rasped, his voice irritating against my eardrums now that we were close up. I stared into his dead-like eyes and he stared back.

Finally, I titled my head to my right and spoke up in a practiced innocent manner. "I'm not afraid," I began, surprising the Stray Devil, making him blink with two of his eyes. "In fact, I've never felt fear in my entire life." While that statement was true, in the sense that I haven't felt fear in this lifetime, I have felt it in my previous one. I could certainly understand why someone would be afraid of the sight before their eyes, but I simply lacked that capability right now.

"Strange," the Stray Devil murmured, his voice shaking with emotion that I couldn't process. "But acceptable." He seemed to shrug, his smile widening. "If you aren't afraid; then I'll savor each taste!"

The spider Stray Devil lunged forward, mouth opened wide and fangs aimed straight at me. My body didn't react in time; it couldn't. If things continued like this, I would die. However, there was one thing faster than this monster before my eyes; my mind and instincts.

'_This is the night,_' I began to myself, a smile creeping its way onto my face as my body began to shift in space as if it was shivering. '_It's time to unlock the door and utilize it for the first time! That of time itself!_'

Then, I moved.

It was certainly easier to affect the flow of time forward than it was to trace it backward, and as such, I took that path. Speeding my body up, I flowed through the river of time, swimming through the sand that stuck to my body and pushed against it.

However, that push was weak. It was as if time simply moved around for me as if I was a shark swimming against a weak current. Eyes widening through my movement, I found myself flowing through space to my left, dodging the lunge of the spider Stray Devil. Following after me, were deep blue afterimages, much like that of sapphires. They were chiseled to a great extent, the body of the images matching mine exactly, even the expression was the same.

However, while this may be the first time that I utilized such a capability, I felt nothing from it – perhaps some happiness at being able to actually use it, but I felt no awe in such power. I did not feet pride that I was able to use it, that I was able to dodge the spider. I felt no wonder at such a spectacle, no sense of elation.

My eyes stared towards the spider as I came to a standstill, dull to his surprise.

"Wh-what!?" He screeched out, reeling backward out of surprise. His eyes were all opened as wide as they could, and his mouth quivered in what could've been fear.

I shrugged, not bothering to answer him. His lips turned into a snarl and he angrily lunged forward again, this time, swinging his front right limb at my head like a blade. I activated my time manipulation and ducked underneath it, leaving behind my sapphire afterimages, which showed that I smirked as I moved down, before turning back into an expressionless look.

"You bastard!" He shouted, voice guttural and low, even with the volume of the shriek. He slashed at me with that of his other limb, before moving to the next. Which each swing, I took a step back, keeping in mind the distance to the wall behind me, and he moved forward with each swipe to keep in range.

After more than a dozen attempts, I finally felt my back hit against the wall. The Stray Devil laughed in amusement, though anger was present in his voice. "Now, I have you!" Lunging forward like an idiot, I sighed as I moved past him, leaving sapphire in my wake. His stab broke through the stone and for a moment, the limb was stuck. Instead of trying to stick me with another of his limbs, he stood there confused, before weakly trying to pull his arm back.

As his first attempt to free himself failed, I placed a calming hand on the side of his trapped limb. The hair pressed against my skin reminded me of a shaggy head of hair that hadn't been washed in years, the coarse bushy and crinkly hair felt more like a bad rug to me than actual hair itself. The matted hair was covered in dirt and blood and it smelled like rotten eggs.

The Stray Devil breathed out some kind of sound at my touch, his eyes lay upon me. I stared at his limbs and allowed a sigh of inevitability to escape my lips. Inside, I was grinning with almost childlike joy.

"I am… inevitable."

Squealing on the inside, on the outside, I was stoic; unchanging and calm.

Time flowed forward, like a raging current. I didn't swim in it this time, however, I allowed it to flow freely. Stretching out infinitely forward, I dug out the sides, letting more of this sandy current to flow forward. Eventually, a lake began to stretch out at all sides.

The Stray Devil blinked, not understanding what was happening. "Why does my arm… hurt?" He rasped with an almost whisper, staring at the hairy appendage that had begun to lose muscle. Wrinkles quickly seeped into the flesh and the hair whitened and fell out. The Stray Devil could not comprehend what was happening. I decided to be a good friend and explain it to him.

"As a Devil, you possess an incredibly long lifespan – but this is what will eventually happen." My voice broke him out of his stupor, and he turned to me with a confused curl of his lips, his eyes shining innocently. With a roll of my eyes, I continued. "Thus, I sped that time up. How long has it been? Two-thousand years? Three? I can't quite tell, but I do know this. In the end, you will cease."

As I finished, his appendage began to change. Without the hair covering it, the limb took on the form of a bone covered in weak flesh, gray in color with seams practically built into it. However, that was the least bit of his worry. As my touch pressed into the flesh, the feeling of hard bone poking against it, there was a slight change. The flesh dripped off him and the bone softened, breaking apart. A moment later, the change became more visible – in the form of it falling away like sand.

With the sands of time pushed forward to such an extent, his limb quickly began to deteriorate, and it eventually simply ceased.

Within a moment, his limb was gone; not even sand was left behind. The Stray Devil stared at his missing appendage, not quite understanding. However, after a few seconds of thought, his eyes widened and his mouth opened wide. A long row of fangs peeking out from behind his lips, the spider turned a glare and scowl my way.

"You bastard! Give me my leg back!" Lunging at me with reckless abandon, our chase began anew. I sped up my time, dodging his attacks fluidly, as he swiped at me with easily predictable swings of his blade-like limbs. Lunging forward, I stepped forward. The limb cut into my left shoulder, giving away to a joyful expression on his face, but in his momentary distraction, I cupped his cheeks with my hands.

It only took him a second to realize what was about to happen.

I grinned.

"I am inevitable," I repeated, and sped the flow of time forward, faster than before. To such an extent, that it reminded me of blowing up a dam.

Before, I had simply dug out a lake from the river. But this time, I simply removed the dam that blocked the flow of sand from behind, letting the sand flow out like a tsunami and cover the field of life with it. It covered the river, the land, the trees; everything. It formed an ocean.

"Wai-" was the final word of the Stray Devil as his body quickly deteriorated. His face began to crack before it crumbled away. Turning into grains of sand, his face flowed down my hands and onto the ground, disintegrating at its smooth touch. The rest of his body followed.

Before my eyes, his body and appendages gave way and fell down, bursting into a cloud of sand that floated in the air, disappearing slowly as my gaze spanned over it. After a moment, not even a minute later, any trace of the Stray Devil was gone.

I breathed out a sigh of relief at how this fight had gone. '_If he had been stronger, he might've been able to resist the sands of time. If he had been endless, my power would've been useless._' I turned my gaze over to my injured left shoulder. Placing a hand against it, I sped up the recovery time. The cut thinned and disappeared, though the blood was left behind, marking the location of the wound, much like the cut fabric upon my shoulder. '_Someone like Serafall Leviathan would've been able to easily resist my time manipulations on her body and someone like Ophis would've simply tilted her head in confusion at me trying to fast forward to her death._'

I shook my head, erasing such thoughts from my mind. '_There was no reason to fight such entities; my goal was Ravel and Ravel alone._'

Spinning around in step, I walked away. My excuse clear in my head, I couldn't help the slight hop in my step as I trekked back to my home, to the loving arms of my parents, who would surely be able to understand and accept my apology for escaping out of the house in the dead of night, with only the pale moonlight above my head to mark my path.

* * *

**Hey guys, I know this chapter came out incredibly quickly from the previous one, like literally about ten hours ago. But I couldn't sleep, so I just wrote this up. I'll probably be getting back up in at least four hours from now, but who cares? I'd like to thank those that followed and favorited in that time span, so without stalling, let's get to the reviews!**

**Zaphkiel Seirei - **_Interesting._

**Zaphkiel Seirei - **_Very nice, time is a great power_

**My response -** _Thank you! And yeah, time is pretty powerful but it does have its own limitations that I will begin to establish in future chapters! We've already seen that he finds it more difficult to turn back the hands of time, and thus, he won't be rewinding anything anytime soon, though his application of turning forward the sands of time is already rather well-done. After all, he's practically become one with time._

**Thank you guys for reading and if you want to see more, please follow, and if you want me to continue, please favorite! Also, leave a nice review down below to tell me your thoughts, what I'm doing wrong, what you want to see, and anything like that!**

**I have already come up with some interesting plot points that I can do, so until then, ciao!**


	4. A Promise

**Volume 1 – A Quest Worth Completing  
Chapter 4 – A Promise**

I walked under the pale moonlight shining down upon me, the darkened sky flowing past beyond. My thoughts were on how to utilize my ability to manipulate time, thoughts that clearly knew what I could and couldn't do right now.

For now, I couldn't reverse the hands of time, but I can affect the sands of time moving forward; it was what I did against that Stray Devil. I instinctively knew how to channel the power through my body at will, but if I made even the slightest mistake, then I could find myself quickly dying.

I needed something to make sure that this doesn't happen.

Frowning, no matter how much I thought about training, the warning remained. '_It seems as if there will always be risks to messing with time… but there is one thing I know that is against the rules._'

A smile flickering into view, I spotted my house. It was a two-story building, similar to a manor in its size and property, even though it wasn't built to flaunt wealth. We had no neighbors and a large yard.

Nicolas Flamel – he had discovered the Philosopher's Stone, a magical item that all Alchemists dreamt of that would allow them to live an immortal life. '_How did he discover it? How did he create it? Where is he and where is it?_'

Even with my thoughts directed towards this goal of finding the stone, my feet carried me to the front door. Sighing in frustration, I tentatively reached forward and gripped the glass-smooth doorknob. Turning it around clockwise, I pushed open the door without a second thought.

As I gingerly closed the door behind me, a light sprang to life – it wasn't an electrical one. Looking forward, blinking my eyes rapidly to get used to the bright, green light, I began to slowly make out the figures of my parents. The light began to dim down after a moment of pause.

Dressed in a sharp black suit with a white dress shirt underneath the black fabric that appeared as smooth as stone with a purple handkerchief in the left breast pocket, stood my father. With meticulously combed black hair, the same black as my own bed of hair, with it being brushed over to his right with part of his bangs hanging close to his right eye and a tuft of it lying between his eyes, though slightly wild, his hair shone brilliantly in the magical dim light. His electric blue eyes peered down at me with a hint of amusement and his smile sent danger signals down my spine.

Standing beside him, holding up her right hand with the index finger extended upward, with a ball of green light floating just above her fingertip, was my mother. With blonde hair held up into a bun behind her hair with strands of it being tied into braids around the side of the bun, her bangs hung down to just above her light lime green eyes with an antennae of hair sticking up from her hair, with some of the hair on the top of her hair being brushed forward to the sides of her face, which helped to frame it.

She stood a head or so shorter than her husband, a woman with ample breasts that stood slightly below average for women her age. She wore a red dress that left the top of her chest, shoulders, and arms, uncovered with black frills dancing down the skirt horizontally in three layers. A dark red ribbon was tied around her stomach and a lighter red ribbon was tied behind her head, holding her bun together.

A frown sprouted onto her face and her eyes narrowed in anger and frustration. A pout worked its way onto her face, which shone slightly red.

The two were both incredibly attractive adults, handsome and beautiful. When they stood side-by-side in a room filled with others, it feels as if the entire room had lit up, all eyes attracted to the two of them, beholding their splendor, awe evident in their eyes and at their otherworldly beauty.

However, I felt no such thing as awe. I stood there, staring blankly at the two of them. My heart beating at a stable rate, I nodded at the two and bid them goodnight in my usual tone of voice.

I was only able to take two steps before Martha, my mother, charged straight at me, the green ball of light trailing behind her right shoulder as she advanced. I held back a resigned sigh and allowed her to grab me by the shoulders and shake me a few times, tears popping up in her eyes.

"Do you know how much I was worried about you!?" she screeched, shaking me roughly, causing my head to bob forward and back.

"You mean 'we', right?" George, my father, chuckled, scratching at his cheek, a drop of sweat sliding down his head as his smile twitched.

"What would I have done if you were to get…?" The shaking stopped as her eyes beheld my own – no, my hair. I frowned, confused. '_Usually, she would've kept berating me, before shoving my head into her bosom and then finally breaking down into tears. This would then be followed by father grabbing her shoulders with a ginger grip and he would lead her off of me and to a chair where he would then pass her a glass of wine to help her calm down and relax. He would then berate me halfheartedly as she slowly begins to doze off and I would be sent to my room. But this time, she became distracted. Why?_'

My thoughts were answered moments later, as tears began to leak from her eyes.

"Y-you…" She began, sniffing, snot almost visible in her nose. "You dyed your hair!" And finally, the dam broke, tears streaming down her eyes in spades. Her crying resounded forth and if we had neighbors, they surely would've been annoyed at the noise.

"Wh-what!?" I almost shouted but managed to control my voice. I stared at her crying face in confusion, even as my father gently grabbed ahold of her shoulders. Stroking her flesh, he whispered quietly into her ear, so quietly that even I, who was directly in front of her, was unable to hear.

Mother sniffed once more, eyes opening with tears reflected in them, before tilting her head. She then turned towards him slightly and muttered. "Really?" Her voice squeaked in such a melancholy, the emotion in it sending a bolt of pain through my chest.

While I didn't know what I had done, I still felt terrible. '_She said something about my hair._' I noted in my head. Raising a hand slowly to my hair, I gingerly pressed the index and thumb against a strand and raised it over my eye so that I could stare at it.

As she said, it was no longer black; but white.

Noticing my action, father sent me a smile, his eyes dripping in amusement. "Son come with me. We'll talk in the living room." Letting go of his wife, he stood back up to his full height, motioning me to follow with a hand gesture. Martha stood up, wiping her tears away with the back of her arm and she followed George out of the room, muttering something too low for me to understand, though what I did manage to pick out, sounded like a different language entirely. '_French? Old French? Strange…_'

I stared at their retreating forms for a moment, before following after the two of them, still confused at their earlier behavior, trying to ignore the change of language that my mother had made when she began to mutter to herself. '_What happened? Why did my hair change? Could it have been… when I manipulated time?_'

Frowning, I fell into step behind them as we walked down the hallway and to the living room. Pushing the door open, George held the door open for his wife and she quickly entered, stifling a sniff. I followed right after her when George didn't move. He came in after, closing the door gently behind himself.

The two sat down on the sofa while I took the chair. Between us, was a coffee table with the top being made of glass. On my right, a flat-screen TV was set up. A comfortable black carpet covered the wooden floorboards that were rimmed by white, all of which, was visible thanks to the dim green light that still hovered by Martha's side.

I stared at the two curiously, waiting for what they would say. I didn't really understand why my hair became bleached white, but I did connect it with my time manipulation. As for why it had happened, I didn't know.

George glanced at his wife and nodded. She wiped her eyes once more and smiled cutely at him, though when he looked back at me, I saw her stick out her tongue at him with her eyes closed – though he didn't notice.

"Now then, son," he shifted in place and rolled his right shoulder back. "Tell us what happened." His voice dripped with authority and I found myself complying instantly. Perhaps it was because he was my father, that I moved to explain as quickly as possible? Either way, my lips opened, and words tumbled out, crafting a story that would explain everything that I knew – though I withheld certain parts and used clever lies to cover them up.

"I was going out on my daily adventure at night, getting the lay of the land, when I spotted some buildings – factories."

"The abandoned factories!" Martha spoke, surprised, eyes wide and rimmed with tears. She turned to her husband to say something, but he held up his hand in an annoyed fashion. She pouted and looked away with a huff, crossing her eyes momentarily before dropping them back down to her lap. He chuckled lightly and nodded for me to continue.

"When there, I smelled something, and I entered one of the factories and I ran into a… spider demon thing."

George nodded as Martha paled at realizing what I was talking about. "A Stray Devil." He answered for me, to which I nodded before continuing.

"It attacked me but this man wearing a white robe appeared and took it out with a wham, a slam, and a slash!" The two blinked at my descriptive words as I moved my arms in a fashion as if I was showing them what had happened. Swinging my arm to the side with a 'wham' then bringing it down with a 'slam', I finished with a vertical slice with my arm in what had to be a 'slash'. I continued without pause. "He healed my shoulder with some kind of magic!" I allowed my face to scrunch up momentarily before finishing the story. "But then he left after flicking my forehead! I think he said his name was… Dewleo?"

George nodded and muttered something underneath his breath, looking off to his left, clicking his tongue.

Martha, however, had no reservations about shouting, causing George to slam a hand to his face in exasperation. "Dulio, that bastard! How dare he hit my precious son?"

"_Our_ precious son, please." George quickly said, hand still on his face, causing his words to be slightly muffled. Removing his hand, he stared blankly at his wife, who stuck out her tongue and lightly tapped her head, with her left eye shut close. He shook his head before moving back to me, ignoring his wife who had acted like a klutz. "Luckily, he was somehow there and saved you from certain death… however, one thing remains. Your irresponsible behavior, young man!"

I rolled my eyes. When my father decides to berate me for my actions, it's always halfhearted and he simply repeats what his wife always says. However, when he deviated from the norm, I found myself stunned, mouth hanging open and staring at him with surprise flaring in my eyes.

"I should lock you up in your room because of the foolish actions you've taken today, yet I find that doing such a thing would be unfair to you. After all, if I lock you up, hiding you in there, you would simply break your window to escape!"

Martha giggled and quickly took over. "Which is why we'll teach you magic. Effective immediately!" She puffed out, sitting up straight with a proud look in her eyes. Her arms crossed underneath her chest, which pushed her breasts up, her eyes closed in relief. George stared at her wearily, before looking at me with an expression that told me '_this is what I have to put up with on a daily basis_'.

"No, honey. It will not be immediately," George responded dryly, causing his wife to open her left eye and her expression to falter slightly. "Tomorrow, young man. We'll – rather, I will – begin to teach you a few things to get you started, we'll begin your training in earnest at a later date."

"But – but – but!" Martha exclaimed, slapping his shoulder with each word, tears beginning to pool up in her eyes again. "I wanted to be his first teacher! His instructor! His professor!"

He rolled his eyes, causing her to pout.

"However," he continued to address me, ignoring his wife swinging her fists into his shoulder. "I'll only teach you if you make a promise with me."

I blinked and leaned forward slightly, gulping. "What kind of promise?" I responded after a moment; eyes ringed with curiosity fitting of a child.

He grinned and held out his hand, pinky extended. "A pinky promise, of course!" I stared blankly at him, but with a small shrug, I crossed my own pinky with his, though I had to get off the chair to reach him first. "I promise to begin teaching you tomorrow, but you are not to sneak out of this house again! You _must _get permission from one of us if you wish to step outside this house! If you keep up this good behavior for _one entire year_, then you'll be allowed to go outside on your own _and _you'll begin your magical studies for real."

Martha quickly moved in and crossed her pinky with the two of us, causing her husband to glance at her in annoyance for a moment, but he quickly shook his head, a smile filled with amusement gracing his lips.

"And, you can promise me that you'll be a good boy and I'll be able to teach you how to blow things up!"

"Honey, please. Don't tempt him."

I giggled at their daily interaction, everything seemingly crumbling back into normality. George and Martha; my new parents, were incredibly fun to be around. They were like my best friends. Though they can be strict at times, they were incredibly understanding, and they often spoke highly of me and my talents. However, I had yet to share with them my true identity and skill. It was something that they didn't need to know at this time, however, one day, I will tell them the truth.

"I promise." I sent them a cheery grin, causing them to smile warmly at me. '_I promise – I will tell the two of you the truth. I promise to be good from here on out._' Swearing this, I swung my hand up and down as the two repeated my words.

Letting go, they leaned back into their sofa while I sat back down on the chair. Licking her lips, Martha glanced at George, who sighed. "Fine, I'll get you some wine." Turning back to me, he grinned, tipping an imaginary hat. "Remember kid, when you get married, always treat your wife right. Oh, and go get some sleep – you'll need it." Standing up, he exited the living room and his footsteps resounded off down to the kitchen.

I jumped up off of the armchair and hurried over to my mother and gave her a hug against her legs, to which she patted my head, further messing up my disheveled hair. Leaning forward, she whispered words of encouragement into my ear.

"One year – and then I'll teach you how to blow monsters up! You'll never be afraid of them again, I promise!"

"Okay!" I agreed, even though I could no longer feel fear, thus, I had no need to know how to, as she put it, 'blow monsters up'.

After letting go, I exited the room and ran back to the entrance of the house, towards where the staircase was. As I went, father exited the kitchen with a glass of red wine, and he smiled down at me.

"Careful there," he remarked with a wink. "Wine stains." I laughed as I spun around him and he chuckled, waving after me with his other hand. I ran up the stairs with heavy thuds and moved over to my door. '_Tomorrow – or rather, later today – will be fun! I'll be able to learn magic! I wonder what father will teach me?_'

Excitement practically bursting against my ribs, I entered my room and ran inside, not bothering to glance at my appearance in the mirror, I immediately jumped into my bed and threw the covers over me. After a moment, I slipped my shoes off my feet and tossed them off the bed, followed by my vest.

I was too tired to change clothes, but I felt as if an endless amount of energy was dancing through my veins! Closing my eyes, I pressed my face against the milky white, soft pillow. Rubbing my face against it, I smiled, thoughts about what I'll be learning circulating through my head.

And then, I fell asleep.

* * *

**Hey guys, another chapter finished! Once again, thank you all for reading and following/favoriting this story! Now then; moving onto the reviews left behind by those of you!**

**OneTimeMuffin - **_Oi don't you dare quote Thanos and if you want to quote him you should use "You couldn't live with your failure, and where did that bring you, back to me"_

**My response -** _Ahh, I gotcha. I mean, saying "I am inevitable" probably the most iconic of his quotes, twice, was a bit much. But it fit what he was going for more than that quote. After all, what failure did the Stray Devil make? Simply existing? That doesn't sound good. He can live his own life, even if it was meant for him to be killed off by a seven-year-old child! Lol._

**Wrath5151 -**_ Nice, haven't read a story with Time Based powers in a while, excited to see how you'll develop his ability. On another note, Writer, have you played/know about Dies Irae? The MC has similarly time based powers, and the type of shit he can pull off (accelerating his own time while passively slowing down other's, to timestop reaching every conceivable plane of existence) are quite interesting. Then again like the last paragraph implies, the MC's only goal is Ravel, so I suppose there isn't much point for that much firepower... Regardless, looking forward to more._

**My response -** _I do know of "Dies Irae" but I haven't really looked into it. That is pretty interesting, but yeah, he doesn't have much of a point for that kind of firepower, like damn. I highly doubt he'd be able to get that strong as a human anyway, but that doesn't mean he won't be strong! And thanks; I hope this chapter was enjoyable for you!_

**CrimsonPyre -** _And I am... Ravel Phenex. Lol._

**My response -** _I... deny this._

**LaughingCoffin's revenge -** _Favorited and followed_

**My response -** _Thank you and I hope you get your revenge mate!_

**Zaphkiel Seirei -** _Fun fight_

**My response -** _Thanks! It wasn't really that much, but I tried to make it entertaining, at the very least!_

**Thank you all for reading, once again! If you enjoyed it, please leave a follow so that you can continue reading with the next update! Unfortunately, I go back to work tomorrow, so I might not be able to get a chapter up tomorrow... But, ignoring that depressing news, if you really, really liked it, please favorite!**

**Leave a review down below telling me what you think so far and about what you think his father (George Flamel) will be teaching his son! I'll give you a hint, though: it involves a type of writing.**

**Ciao!**


	5. Runes

**Volume 1 – A Quest Worth Completing  
Chapter 5 – Runes**

Father led me down into the basement, a soft, water blue light above his right shoulder. Shadows dripped onto the walls as light draped against them. His steps against the wooden steps echoed in the eerie silence, with mine following immediately after, creating a dramatic effect that mother would certainly love.

I could feel the chill in the air; something ominous lurked within these walls, surrounded by the stone walls and locked by a simple door that possessed no lock. Yet, I did not fear it. I felt a cold shiver go down my spine, my skin crawled with goosebumps due to the damp air, yet I felt nothing that could be described as fear.

Father walked on, oblivious to my inability to feel fear. '_Did he even feel this ominous feeling in the air, this cold?_' I silently thought to myself with a frown wrapped upon my face. He stepped calmly down each stair, carefully, as if blind in the dark, even with a light right above his shoulder.

As we continued moving downward, I allowed my eyes to roam the stone wall of the basement. Glancing to my left, I eyed the stony surface, a dull gray in color with indents pressed into the wall, cracks that spread out in no particular order. Liquid water dripped from somewhere above and I observed a drop that slithered down the surface of the wall. This drop turned and weaved throughout several of the cracks, and though it reached the majority of the cracks that I could see, some were dry.

As if knowing what I was seeing and thinking, my father called back to me without even a glance. "Ignore the water Charlie; that's just a feature of this room."

I blinked, head swiveling back to stare after him, confused. "A feature?" I whispered, but my voice echoed loudly. He nodded, then glanced over his shoulder with a smirk and a tinge of exhaustion in his eyes.

"Yep, but I'll explain later," He spoke in a calculated manner, picking his words out in great care as if trying not to spill the secret accidentally. I nodded, unsure of his motives, but I continued following him, curious in what he had to say.

When we finally reached the bottom of the steps, he pressed his finger against a small plate that was affixed to the stone wall and a small blue flame sprouted between the plate and his finger at the contact. I felt chillingly warm energy seep out from the flame, causing me to blink in surprise and lean in, getting a closer look at the flame.

When he removed the finger and the flame flickered away for a moment, I caught a look of some kind of symbol that was engraved into the plate. There were three of them pressed together against the plate, an indent made into it, though the symbols were a metallic gray to the black that was the plate. The symbols in order from left to right were 'ᚹ', 'ᛋ', and ending with 'ᚲ'.

In the next moment, the weak flame blazed like an inferno and died just as quickly. Blinking thrice, I looked around the basement, only now noticing that the light that had floated above George's shoulder had dissipated.

The light was fully lit by orange-gold flames with a red glow coming from it, which sprouted from several small sconces, though they held no torch – the flames simply sprouted from each sconce. My eyes widened in realization. '_It's magic._' A smile bloomed upon my face at the thought, excitement bubbling against my chest.

Noticing this, George chuckled. Turning my head back to him, I eagerly awaited his instruction. After he calmed down, he moved over to a long, dusty desk that held several stacks of books on the top.

Sitting down in a wooden stool, he turned to me with his left leg held over his right. Licking his lips in search of words, he nodded, glancing at the cracks in the walls.

"You wanted to know about the water, right?" He questioned, making sure we were on the same page. I nodded without a change in my expression. He rolled his eyes at my enthusiasm. "Too much excitement will cause you to miss what I say, but I'll say it anyway." He coughed into his fist, clearing his throat. "Th, n, eo, zz, and l. Do you know what these sounds can translate to?" He asked me, his right eyebrow rising a fraction, as if in great anticipation of my answer.

I frowned, excitement dying down like a smoldering flame. '_He knows that I don't know, but what should I say? Is there a way to get close to what he wants without even knowing? An educated guess?_' I bit down on my tongue as the gears in my head turned.

'_Before entering, he turned on that light, but that was just with a snap. No other sound was necessary, which rules that out in regards to the sounds he just made. We climbed down the steps and then he turned on a different light, the one that's currently on, though there wasn't a sound in that one, just a touch. There was nothing else that could even be described as magic… wait, the touch!_'

My eyes lighting up, I turned them towards the black plate and stared at the symbols again. After a few moments, I turned back to see George smiling. He nodded for me to answer his question, knowing that he would hear something good. "I believe…" I began, glancing back at the plate before letting my eyes trail over to a series of cracks in the wall next to the plate which held water traveling down the columns. "That some kind of written magic is being used to make the water."

George nodded, a proud smile popping up onto his face, as he snapped his fingers in momentary excitement. "Exactly right! Specifically, I'm using five symbols belonging to Elder Futhark." I blinked slowly, a questioning look appearing on my face. He laughed. "Right, right, I'll explain."

Bringing up his right hand, a small blue flame sprouted from his index finger and he began to _write _in midair. "Th. N. Eo, though it could also be ae, who cares? Zz. And L." Removing his finger, I spied five symbols that burned a deep blue, like sapphire.

ᚦᚾᛇᛉᛚ.

"Though they're specifically named as Thurisaz, Naudhitz, Eihwaz, Eihaz, and Laguz. Ah, Laguz is what makes the water, if you're wondering." He rolled his eyes a moment later an unpleasant look sparkling in his eyes, though it was quickly snuffed out. '_An unpleasant thought?_' I thought to myself with a half-frown, though my attention was quickly snatched away by the runes again. At the same time, he continued his explanation. "Some would question my order of them, but I don't really care. They don't have to be perfectly translated into anything; I just want the effect, you know?" However, I wasn't really listening to him, as I was still staring at the symbols attempting to make sense of it. '_The Elder Futhark, he called it._' With a blink, I recalled the name. After a few minutes of study, I turned my attention back to my father, who was studying his nails in boredom.

At seeing me directing my attention back to him, he snapped back to attention, smoothing down his suit and drawing up a sophisticated smile. "Ah, then you're ready to learn and discover the usage of the wonderful Runic Magic then?" I rolled my eyes, yet I was still excited.

"Yes!" I shouted, eager to learn.

"Great! We can start with simple understanding; I can't exactly teach you combined spells yet, and true name spells are out…" He drawled out with his right hand held against his chin, as if in deep thought.

"Combined? True name?" I questioned with a tilt of my head.

"Ah," he snapped out of whatever funk he was in and looked back up at me, an embarrassed glint in his eyes. "Sorry for zoning out. Combined is what I just showed you-" he tapped a knuckle against the runes that remained in the air, which dissipated at the touch. "-and true name is by correctly translating it and yatta-yatta. I don't know the true name, so don't ask." He held up a hand as if stopping a question from bubbling forth from my lips. Though I really did want to learn more about this 'true name' business, I shook my head.

"I'd rather learn what I can, right now," I told him with a wanting glint in my eyes. He nodded excitedly, his head bobbing back and forth.

"Of course, and that is what we are here for! Now then, where to start…?"

After saying that, he drew one of the runes that were made into the plate.

A ᚲ rune flared into existence, a deep blue like the rest. However, with a second touch, the rune seemed to activate, and the deep blue burst into a deep red and I instantly felt a sharp heat kiss against my face. Eyes widening, I stared at the flame that burned in the air. '_This is magic. Honestly, that's pretty cool. Yet I don't really feel a difference. Normally, my heart would be beating with such an intensity… but I have been cursed. I no longer feel awe; I can't take joy out of such simple things like this._'

Though my thoughts turned dark, I managed to keep a smile on my face as the red flame cast a red glow upon the two of us and the surrounding.

Father didn't notice the subtle shift in my expression as his eyes were directed towards the flame. "Kenaz, or k, can be translated as knowledge, understanding, learning and teaching, and opening. The definition I used here, was fire. Torch was used on the plate. Its symbol is conveniently a torch."

I nodded my head, understanding what he was saying quite easily. '_Individually, I don't think the runes are that difficult, but something tells me he's about to make me refute this thought._'

He smirked as if guessing my thoughts. I was right on my money, as he correctly deduced what I was thinking a moment later. "You must be thinking that this is quite easy, right?" I slowly nodded and he chuckled in amusement. "You'll be eating your words when you start practicing, you know?"

"Yes, sir…" I spoke quietly, though he waved it off easily.

"No need to fret on it; I was the same way!" He scratched his chin, getting a faraway look in his eyes. "Though I was older, and my teacher was… intense." He shook his head with a jovial laugh, slapping his left knee with a hand. "I'm not going to be as intense, so just relax!"

I made a sound resembling a laugh and waited for him to continue what he was saying from earlier.

"Now then, if you've noticed, Kenaz can stand for quite a few things. Fire, a torch, even something more abstract like knowledge and understanding." He made a second Kenaz rune, but after touching this one, the deep blue rune burned a light red. "Understanding can help flesh out a fellow rune, or it can allow a second rune to be empowered." He tapped it again, changing the light red to a black. "Opening can be used to unlock doors and chests and anything in between." He went to touch the rune again but hesitated just before his flesh met it. Turning eyes towards me, he hastily explained something else. "Now, you might notice the colors, but that's just me differentiating each meaning for you. They can all be the same color or whatever color you want, though if you have no preference then they appear like a deep blue, like sapphire." He shrugged halfheartedly. "It doesn't really make a difference to me, but let's continue." He tapped the color and it changed to a bright yellow. "Learning and teaching are a bit difficult to incorporate in some cases, but just like understanding, it's meant to help empower a specific rune – though this one acts in a way that allows one rune to possess multiple meanings of itself.

"For example, if I combined this meaning of Kenaz with Ansuz – the symbol for that is the mouth and the sound it makes is double a, with the rune looking like this-" he quickly drew a rune in the air as he spoke, which formed a ᚨ, which stood next to Kenaz, before continuing. "-I could make a flame that takes and delivers a message for me. For example," He pressed his finger against the middle of Kenaz and Ansuz, which made it glow a hot yellow as he began to write in Latin, though I couldn't quite make out the words due to the bright light and it being written backwards from my perspective. When he finally removed the finger, he blew onto the message which then burst into flame that washed over my face, yet it didn't burn. I blinked in confusion as to what was supposed to be happening, and he quickly moved on to explain. "I sent a message to your mother to prepare some tea for us. She should be done within ten minutes, give or take." He shrugged and I nodded in understanding.

"So," he began slowly, licking his lips with a grin marking it, amusement dancing in his eyes like that of a whispering flame. "are you interested in learning Runic Magic?" His knowing grin sent pangs of annoyance through me, as he clearly knew that I definitely wanted to learn – but I did have to admit that this wasn't quite what I thought I would be learning. However, any magic was better than no magic, and having an option other than my Chronokinesis would definitely be useful.

"Absolutely." He clapped his hands together at hearing my resolute reply, spoken as confidently as I could manage.

"Then – we have about ten minutes before your mother gets down here and interrupts us, so let's see how much ground we can cover! We'll first start with each of the twenty-four runes and I'll run you by their meanings and what they look like. We'll start with Fehu first…"

* * *

**Hey guys, I'm back! It took a bit, but it was worth it since I was able to study these bloody runes a bit. Ugh, if there is anyone who actually knows it well, I feel like I triggered them. I took a bit of liberty in them, but please don't kill me. I'm too young to die.**

**But let's just get straight into the reviews!**

**Zaphkiel Seirei - **_Hmm his hair being affected by him manipulating time seems possible_

**My response -** _It definitely does and it looks cool as an added note!_

**FinzDragzer -** _Finally man of the culture who using Ravel ans Main Heroine, i just hope doesn't stop half way. The only Ravel book that i took liking pretty much only My Little Sister Metagaming too hard. OP Ravel XD_

**FinzDragzer -** _how about some power from Chrono Ruler (anime about time power abilityor Some bullet ability from KurumiDate A LiveI like alepth and Time devouring Tower, also Regrowth from Mahouka also fine_

**My response -** _Oh, I've seen that fanfiction about Ravel! Though I don't think I read all of it, it was pretty funny. You don't have to worry about recommending me to people who can utilize time - I got you covered._

**Robocoaster - **_Might want to be careful of how obsessive you make him of Ravel as you're walking a fine line on this. As for magic he'll learn, my guess would be rune magic but it could be script magic or contracts._

**My response -**_ Rune magic is correct, and don't worry; while he is a bit obsessive over her, it isn't to an extreme point. He isn't crazy in any means. He'll also be learning contracting magic from his mother, but that is at a later date, so I guess you guessed two things that he will be learning? Neat._

**Thank you guys for reading, once again! I have plenty of material written down about Runic Magic, as it will be called here. It's based on Elder Futhark, though I also looked at everything derived from it, like Younger Futhark and the such before I got what I got, to which, you will eventually see, maybe?**

**Regular is just the one rune, combined is multiple runes put together (in no specific order or in more proper order), and true name is those runes being translating into something with a spoken chant, for those who are curious.**

**Anyway, if you enjoyed and would like to see more, please follow. If you really like reading this, please favorite. If you want to give me some nice and crispy critiques, please review!**

**I have two more things to say before ending this chapter, though. The first is that he will learn two additional forms of magic from his father and a few from his mother, one of which involves contracts.**

**The second is that I will no longer be putting in the reviewers, well, review in the chapters since it's getting tedious to copy it all down here, so I'll simply give the name and the response, thank you for understanding!**

**Ciao!**


	6. Snow

**Volume 1 – A Quest Worth Completing  
Chapter 6 – Snow**

It's been a few months since my first lesson down in the damp basement of the Flamel Household. Ever pure white snow drifts down, stinging the air with coldness and the coolness only know to winter. The ground was covered in the white puffs as more gets layered on top of it, falling from the gray clouds above in the Heavens.

Breathing out through my mouth, an icy cold breath visible only in this time appeared, a gas of released carbon dioxide floating in the air for a few moments before dissipating. My gloved mittens, a gray in color, contrasted to the snow that billowed around me.

My white jacket matched, yet the pants, a black in color, did not. I wore no hat, but a light blue scarf was wrapped around my neck, and in the end, a white snowflake was stitched on, which possessed a Sowulo rune for its center. The ᛋ rune contrasted against the fabric of the scarf, due to it being a light red with shades of orange at the tips. The symbol was surrounded by multiple runes that offered protection, which were Thurisaz, Eihwaz, Eihaz, and an Inguz which wrapped around it like a mother's hold on each of the cardinal directions of the snowflake, while Naudhitz was used to restrict Sowulo and interference it can have on the outside, allowing it to only affect the clothing and the one wearing it. Naudhitz was drawn upon the back of the scarf, on the other side of the snowflake.

With this combination set-up (provided by my father), I would not be chilled by the snow and I was actually relatively warm, but not in an uncomfortable way. I was also protected from damage and my clothing would not get wet if the snow got into it and melted.

The entire outfit was an early Christmas present from him due to it suddenly snowing, which was really thoughtful of him. As per tradition, I, a seven-year-old child and son of he and my mother, would not be wrapping any gifts for them… or anyone else, for that matter.

I could only chuckle awkwardly due to my past life and when I had to give gifts to others when I was older. I was always the worst at picking out gifts and wrapping them up, so I wasn't really looking forward to that time.

Grabbing a fistful of snow, I held it up, staring intently at the white glob that was held in my hand. Humming softly, I pointed my left index finger at it and then pressed the finger against it and began to draw a rune against its soft belly.

Isa was what I ended up drawing. The meaning I was utilizing, was "halt", which would effectively stop the snow from melting. When the rune was finished, I molded the glob of snow into a ball, careful not to ruin the rune in the process, and tapped the rune once completed, sending a small amount of magic power into it, which caused it to shine a light blue, almost teal, in color.

I smiled in eager anticipation – Isa possessed other meanings, and while I specifically wanted it to freeze the snow from melting, the meaning that I had attached to it would also cause it to "stick" together, due to the motion being ceased in its entirety.

The snowball would not melt. The snowball would not unravel. It made the ultimate weapon of mass destruction.

Giggling uncontrollably to myself, I stood up, shaking slightly due to having sat down for a while, and ran towards the house. As I did so, I nearly dropped the ultimate snowball, but I managed to catch myself just in time with a hasty Fehu rune, which I used the meaning of "luck" for.

After its activation and my lucky save, I waved the bright gold rune away and ran up the wooden steps onto our back porch and pulled open the door, quickly entering it and shutting it softly behind me.

Sitting at the kitchen counter (a small thing which was only used to wait for food cooking due to us having our own dining room to eat in), I smiled at the back of my father, who sat reading the newspaper with a lazy tilt of his head. The newspaper was slanted slightly and every few moments, his head would dip, as if he was falling asleep.

'_Mother told me to make sure he's awake today, though she didn't say why. But she never said how I had to._'

With a devilish smile on my face, one an actual Devil would be proud of, I dashed over to my father and dropped the ball of ice-cold into the back of his suit, and watched him jolt upright with a shock, gasping out awkwardly as if he had been drenched in water whilst sleeping – another method that I would use to awaken him, if he was still in bed.

Reaching a hand down into his suit, he attempted to remove whatever had been dropped into there, but the movement caused his jacket to open wide enough for the small ball of snow to fall out. It landed perfectly on the ground and rolled a few inches away, still in its spherical shape; not damaged in any way, causing an eager grin to spread itself against my lips. I scooped it up and deposited it into my pocket without wasting a single moment. After searching around for a second or two longer, father turned around and glared at me, though his eyes weren't entirely focused on me.

"What did you do?" He asked me, eying me warily, making sure that I didn't attempt anything else. I almost laughed at the sight of my grown father being incredibly cautious of a seven-year-old child, but I managed to keep my cool.

"I used the Isa rune," I replied with a shaky breath. While it was true that I used that rune, it wasn't the entire truth, and he knew it. Just as he opened his mouth, a shout from the front of the house drew our attention away for a moment.

"Honey, they're here!" Martha's voice rang out in its usual singsong-like way whenever she gets a little too excited about something.

George opened his mouth as if to respond but quickly closed it. Turning back to me, he sent another glare my way before tossing his newspaper aside onto the counter and hopped off the stool, standing up to his full height.

"This isn't over," he remarked, turning towards the doorway, but kept an eye on me out of his peripherals. He moved quickly over to the doorway, but just as his eye was taken off of me, I slipped the snowball out of my jacket and threw it at his head, but, faster than I expected, he spun around and caught the ball of snow in his left hand. "Hah!" He laughed, smiling gleefully as he examined the ball, nodding in what could have been appreciation toward my skill. "I see you've used Isa as you've said, but you failed to mention which meaning you used. I believe this one is halting, correct?" I nodded, surprised at his deduction. He smirked and explained. "While it could have been stagnation, it wouldn't have caused the ball of _snow_ to lose its icy temperature. With halting, you literally caused even its temperature to freeze, but with stagnation, it would've simply stopped in place; neither going up nor down. And yes," his smirk tipped upward slightly as realization began to dawn on me. "I watched you from the window making it, so I knew it was coming. Oh, and nice Fehu save." Lightly tossing the ball back to me, I caught it absentmindedly as he turned back around and exited the kitchen, moving down the hallway and to the front of the house. His steps eventually faded, and I could vaguely hear him greeting the guests that had arrived, even as I still contemplated what had just happened.

'_He acted surprised when I had slipped the snowball down his clothing, but he couldn't have known that I would've down that… unless my mother set me up!_'

Grinding my teeth together, I carved an angry Kenaz rune into the snowball and activated it with a forceful tap. The rune burned a burning hot red and exploded into a small flame, the snowball quickly dissipating, leaving only steam behind. Due to my clothing protecting me, I wasn't affected by the weak spell.

My shoulders drooping, I mentally prepared my next prank, but just as an idea came rolling around, a familiar head popped out from the doorway. Though it was positioned sideways, jutting out of the hallway and into the space of the door perpendicular to the floor, I easily recognized the sight of my favorite maid. This is mostly due to her unique appearance – but as disturbing as it could be labeled, I have actually grown quite fond of it.

She has long blonde hair, which fell down to her waist, and pale white skin, much like chalk, though a hue brighter. Part of her hair was a deep crimson in color, which formed tribal-like patterns around a third eye that appeared in her forehead, though it was vertical instead of horizontal, and it was actually fake – though she claims that she can see from it when both her eyes were shut – which was surrounded by the red.

Two horns sprouted from her forehead, which turned inward, that started out black but ended up the same red as her markings. These markings also covered her hands and feet completely, leaving the only sight that wasn't a crimson red, being that of her black nails. Tribal-like markings rose up from her reddened skin from the wrists and ankles, which traveled almost up to her elbows and knees, though I'm sure there were more across her entire body, such as her shoulders and neck. There were two red slashes that resembled a crescent moon under her golden eyes that had cat-like pupils and she had pointed ears.

She currently wore a European-styled maid outfit, with the apron being white and the rest of the fabric black, with a dark pink bowtie on her collar and a similar colored ribbon tied behind her back.

Caelia, a Stray Devil that was in service to my father, did not wear shoes – in fact, she often reminded us how much she hates footwear – and as such, her feet were usually in full display.

I blinked in astonishment at seeing her pop up, just as a near feral-like grin wrapped itself around her lips. Jumping out faster than I could keep track of, she wrapped her arms around my head, pulling it softly against her flat chest, keeping care of not poking me with her horns or scratching me with her nails.

She rubbed the back of my head carefully with her right hand as her left hand rubbed my back. I could feel her chest shake as sobs escaped from her.

"Oh, Young Flamel, when I heard that you had almost died from a chance Stray Devil encounter, I had wanted to rush over right away!" She cried into my head, warm tears dripping onto my face. I hugged her back, being sure not to press my hands too deep into her body – she disliked physical contact when she was the one receiving it. "But Lady Flamel told me not to worry – but worry I did! I couldn't help it! And when your hair turned white? I very nearly flew on over in a rush!"

As the woman cried softly into me, the second pair of blonde hair popped into view, this girl appearing much more tranquil and serene than her fellow maid.

Evelyn, a Stray Devil who was in service to my mother, stood roughly half a head taller than Caelia (if you don't count the horns). Much like her shorter and equally as flat maid, Evelyn wore a maid outfit, though hers showed off part of her shoulders and her forearms, and where Caelia's outfit was black, hers was a light blue. She also wore a hairband, unlike Caelia who couldn't for obvious reasons, which had a decorative flower on the sides, is that of a pink lily.

Whereas Caelia's hair was combed back completely, Evelyn's spilled out over her forehead, with her bangs falling right above her eyelashes, though the sides helped frame her face in an adorable way. Her green eyes stared out at me with no trace of warmth, though the lips that twitched into a smile every few seconds revealed her true feelings: she was happy to see me in good health.

Caelia was always straightforward, while Evelyn was more of a mystery. She was hard to read.

"It's good to see you again, Young Master," she bowed politely with her eyes closed. Father and mother shuffled into the room next, both wearing smiles. Evelyn immediately moved away, allowing them more room to enter without impediment, though Caelia stayed glued onto me, her cheek rubbing against my head.

Unlike George who was wearing his usual black suit, Martha came dressed in a gorgeous dress that covered her shoulders that reached down to her ankles, though part of the chest was visible. Her dress was white on the outside, while on the inside, it was black. Perfectly smooth with no wrinkles or even frills, one would immediately stick the label of "rich" to Martha for wearing this, however, she didn't quite like outfits like this.

Long evening gloves ran up from her hands to just past her elbows and a smile adorned her face, as per usual. White earrings glinted in the light.

Upon her left hand, on the fourth finger – her key ring finger – was her wedding ring, an interesting creation in my opinion, though I haven't seen many wedding rings even in my past life.

It was a pure silver color that twisted around like branches on the sides while forming a small circular plate on the top and a rectangular plate on the bottom. Running along the sides of the ring, almost invisible due to the white color that the symbols made, were runes etched into the metal – though I couldn't even begin to fathom what they read due to how difficult it was to spot them.

On the bottom of the ring, was a cross that wore a crown a centimeter or two from the top of it with wings just above its arms, though they didn't go past the bottom of the crown. The top was home to an almond-shaped ruby that was embedded into the circular metal of the ring, though only the very top of it was visible, due to it being dug into the silver.

I've noticed that the ruby sometimes pulses as if it was alive, almost like a heartbeat. If I peered closely into the gem, I could even make out veins, which was freaky. However, after being introduced to magic, I feel as if the ring was fashioned through it and is something that ties my two parents together in ways that I couldn't even comprehend.

George's ring was the exact same in make, though his ring was onyx black instead of white silver, which made the runes easier to spot and read, however, even then, I couldn't figure out their meaning.

"Come on Caelia, that's enough!" Martha snapped lightly at the maid, causing the girl to literally twist her head around to stare at Martha, eyes rimmed with tears. "We all know that Charles is _my _little snuggly-bear!"

Caelia turned her head back around to peer down at me, her lip trembling. A fang was pressed out between her lip, causing a thin line of blood to sprout, though it quickly disappeared in a moment as her tongue swept over it, healing the tear and removing the blood.

Caelia closed her eyes for a long blink, and once opened, no tears were spotted, though her pupils had stretched from one end of her iris to the other. The inside glowed an almost fiery red, even though the pupils were as black as coal.

"Fine," she drawled, rolling her eyes, sticking her tongue out. Due to her face being only inches apart from my head, the others didn't even notice the two actions.

I held in laughter as Caelia let go and stepped off to the side, sidling up next to Evelyn, lightly bumping her shoulder against Evelyn, who faintly smiled, though her facial expression had yet to change.

'_She doesn't really express her emotions that well, huh?_' I thought to myself, staring at the two. '_Though when it comes to Caelia, Evelyn makes the smallest of changes…_'

Like I thought, the edges of Evelyn's mouth began to twist upwards into a half-smile, though it was hardly noticeable if one didn't study her face for long enough.

However, before I could get a good look at her latest smile, a pair of breasts slammed into the side of my head. "Now then, let the snuggling begin!" Martha declared shaking me back and forth as the comfy melons that were her chest became my pillows on her rampage.

I could hear George sigh in exasperation, and I could almost feel him shaking his head.

"Now isn't the time for this; you know they wanted to begin training him sometime this year, right?" At hearing his words, Martha held onto me tightly, shifting the position of my head over so that my face was trapped within the trench between her pillows, to the point that I lost my ability to breathe.

"No fair!" She shouted out childishly, a pout forming on her lips as I began to claw at her arms to let me go. "I want to train him in magic too! I'll teach him well; I swear!"

"With that attitude, I'm sure he'd just accidentally blow himself up!"

"I can fix him!"

At this point, I was feeling a bit lightheaded. I began to tap her arms, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Just be patient, Martha. Please." George almost pleaded, but Martha shot him down like a bird in the sky.

"No! I want to spend time with my cuddly-bear too!"

"He isn't an object." He pointed out with a stern look, not even noticing his precious son being strangled to death.

"I know that!" She agreed turning her head away with a pout, hardly bothering to notice that the resistance she was receiving from the hug had ceased.

Finally, it was Evelyn who had finally noticed that I was blue in the face.

"Uhm," she began, getting both of my idiot parents' attentions with a hand raised to the level of her chin. "He's about to pass out from asphyxiation." It took a moment for them to realize the meaning of her words, but by that point, I had passed out from lack of oxygen.

'_Well, there are definitely worse ways to die._'

I thought to myself as my eyes rolled to the back of their sockets and my mind went blank with static.

* * *

**Hey guys, here is a nice little chapter of pancake proportion. Next we'll be getting right back into some training, but it won't be Runic Magic? But it will be with the two maids!? I wonder what they will be teaching him, or where they had been... All of which will be revealed next chapter *winks*.**

**Thank you all for continuing to read my story! And for now, let's move onto the reviews! (I'm trying out a new way of doing review responses, so if you want to, tell me what you think or what I should do!)**

**Guest-**

**My response: **_Thanks man, hope the story is still quality content for you!_

**xXxXx**

**Lazymanjones96-**

**My response: **_Thanks man, I'm always happy to serve up a new story on the platter, so hopefully this is still interesting, even if I decided to slow things down a sec to set up these two new characters!_

**xXxXx**

**desropter-**

**My response: **_I feel like harems can either bring out a good plot, or make it worse - especially overall. Though I think DxD does a relatively good job at harem-building with each of the characters' backstories and events tied to wooing them, like Rias with her marriage with Riser, Akeno with her Fallen Angel heritage, Koneko with her sister and heritage, Kiba with his Excalibur- wait, what? Kiba isn't in his harem? Now who decided that!?_

**xXxXx**

**emiya-excalibur-**

**My response: **_Ah, don't worry Emiya; his Chronokinesis will be pretty dope in later years. Just give him ten years and I promise you boy, you'll be seeing some good shit. And as for your question, I suppose that depends on your definition for space. If you're looking for something like "true teleportation" then it's a no; he'd simply speed up his time and move, making it appear as if he teleported, or freeze time to the best of his capabilities and do the same. Will he exhibit space-like manipulation? Most likely. Will he gain the ability to actually manipulate space? Probably not. Hopefully this slow and rather silly chapter doesn't scare you away. Next chapter will be more action-y, I promise!_

**xXxXx**

**Creature of Grimm-**

**My response: **_:)_

**xXxXx**

**Thanks once again for reading! If you enjoyed and want to read the next installment, please follow, and if you want to send me a powerful message of how much you like this, please favorite! If you want to tell me what you enjoy about this story, what you hate about it, what you feel is off or needs bettering explaining, or something you want to see in this story, or just to tell me how your day has been, then please write about it in the reviews!**

**Once again, thanks for reading, ciao!**


	7. Close-Quarter-Combat

**Volume 1 – A Quest Worth Completing  
Chapter 7 – Close-Quarter-Combat**

When today had begun, the snow flowed down from the sky lightly, but in a substantial quantity. The sun was elevating itself towards the crown of the sky, casting its fiery red glow down upon the Earth, that while warm didn't help much when battling against the December cold.

Now, however, the sun began to dip down from the apex of the Heavens, sliding ever downward back to the Earth below where it may find rest. The glow of the sun waned as it went, and the snow slimmed down, the clouds having parted mostly, revealing the blue sky above.

I stood wearing my winter clothing – the ones that I had received from father for an early Christmas gift and the same ones that I had on earlier – and before me stood the two faithful maids of the Flamel Household, which possessed the symbol of a cross being wrapped by a serpent, with a crown hefted upon its top and wings adorned on the arms.

Though I didn't really know why we were out here, apparently, the two wished to properly train me in their own way, so the event from a few months ago wouldn't happen again. Caelia also expressed enthusiasm in becoming my personal maid, but father turned her down – apparently, it was traditional for each Flamel Household member to form a contract with a Stray Devil and have them become a servant to them.

Though I didn't know why this was the case, it would explain why George and Martha each had one in service to them. Apparently, even when they retired and set their familiars free, these two stayed behind because of this sacred duty, or whatever.

I breathed out, letting a cloud of carbon dioxide flow between my lips, and stared at the two, one stoic and unmoving and the other hyperactive and shaking in eager anticipation. We've been standing here for hardly a few minutes, yet the other two have yet to make a single move to explain why we were here.

Just as I began to grow weary of standing around and doing nothing – when I could be training in my Runic Magic, or even practicing my Chronokinesis – Evelyn cleared her throat, holding a fist to her mouth.

"Today, we will begin instructing you in close-quarter-combat – for your own safety, of course," Evelyn began, Caelia nodding excitedly from next to her, a smile pressed onto her face and fists flashing out, punching each droplet of snow that drifted in front of her face, as if showing me what I will be capable of thanks to their training. "Because of our differing skillsets, I have been tasked with explanations while Caelia will be personally sparring with you. Do you possess any questions, Young Master?"

I blinked, a frown working its way onto my face. '_What does she mean by differing skillsets, anyway? Come to think of it, I hardly even know what kind of abilities they possess._'

Nodding, I decided to voice my thoughts, to which Evelyn nodded, her stoicism not changing in the slightest.

"Before I was reincarnated from normal human to a Devil, it was found out that I possess skill as a Magician – thus I was chosen as a Bishop when the reincarnation took place. Caelia here was the opposite." She raised a hand to her side, gesturing to the shorter girl who smiled sheepishly at getting put into the spotlight. "She was a natural brawler – a Rook. As such, her skills contain to punching and kicking, while mine focuses more on the magical arts."

I nodded, but there was another question dancing on the tip of my tongue, that I just had to ask. I didn't think it was rude to pry into the particulars of your servants, especially when it comes to their ability to protect you, so I asked without hesitation.

"Then, what kind of spells do you know?"

"I dabble in Elemental Magic and Curse Magic – something that Lord Flamel participates in as well, while your mother is a master of the more normal arcane arts, specifically, Elemental Magic, as it were." I frowned at hearing this. '_Father knows the magic that involves curses? Isn't that rather… deadly?_'

While it was true that I wasn't in the know about the types of magic that appeared in DxD and what kind of abilities they possess, a type of magic called "Curse" definitely did not bode well, in any case.

Interrupting my thoughts, Caelia practically jumped up in excitement, her hand flying upwards as if she were a student trying to ask a teacher a question. From next to her, Evelyn closed her eyes, lips parting as if allowing a small sigh to flow past them.

"And I use Senjutsu to help me beat up people!" She looked very proud of the fact, so I sent her a smile, to which she straightened her back and puffed out her chest.

"Any more questions, Young Master?" Evelyn questioned, eyes suddenly looking rather tired. When I shook my head, she faintly smiled, continuing after a moment of consideration. "Now then, close-quarter-combat is a necessity to practically every individual that has ever lived. After all, who best to protect you, but yourself?"

"Even Magicians should learn it, but most simply scoff at the idea of getting their fancy robes dirty!" Caelia sneered, rubbing her nose as she said it, a disgusted look on her face. "Punching people is much easier anyway, so I don't get why Magicians even exist." Evelyn didn't reply, but she did pinch Caelia's arm in the soft spot, causing the smaller girl to hop away rubbing her flesh as she glared at Evelyn.

"Which is why we will be instructing you on how to defend yourself in case the enemy gets too close to you and magic becomes difficult to utilize. It's something that Lord and Lady Flamel both know and utilize at a passing degree, though Caelia would quickly beg to differ." The aforementioned girl nodded her head, but before she was able to say anything, Evelyn raised her voice, continuing without much of a pause. "In any case, we will offer you a quick demonstration. I will play the part of the Magician, and Caelia as the brute. Caelia, if you would?" Turning to the shorter girl, Caelia smiled brightly, her fangs glinting off the afternoon sunlight.

I took a couple of steps back quickly, without being told to. Evelyn passed me only a slight glance, but she sent a nod of approval my way. Caelia, without paying attention to me, did a backflip backward, and upon touching the snow with her feet, leaped backward twice. The distance between the two really spread out – to about twenty meters or so.

Caelia cleared her throat and raised her both to make sure that we both could hear her. "Count to three in her head and then you may advance – but do so at a reasonably slow crawl, so that the Young Master can see your movements. Likewise, I will move slowly so that he doesn't lose track of me, the very vulnerable Magician. Ready?"

Caelia shouted in confirmation and three seconds later, she began to sprint forward. At first, her speed surprised me, but it wasn't so fast that I'd lose sight. Evelyn threw up her right hand, a magic circle spinning to life before her palm, a light blue in color with what appeared to be a snowflake in the center with the Flamel Household symbol in the middle of it.

As Caelia neared ten meters away, the circle stopped spinning and three pieces of ice quickly formed, shaping into short spears. The three blasted towards Caelia, who ducked underneath the first, uppercut the second, and blocked the third with her left forearm, and continued on route to Evelyn, who pretended to panic at seeing her attack fail.

Evelyn was actually an amazing actor – she played her role as a _vulnerable_ Magician perfectly. A drop of sweat rolled down her cheek and she hastily brought up a second hand as she took three steps back, a larger circle appearing before her two palms which rotated quickly. However, by that point, Caelia had reached her.

Caelia stopped just in front of Evelyn, though her body was positioned in a crouch so that Evelyn had to physically look down to spot her. Completely without warning, Caelia's leg flashed out as she did a backflip from out of nowhere, which crashed through Evelyn's magic circle, shattering it completely, causing the girl to take a step back out of feigned fright.

When Caelia landed, she did a front flip, using her right heel as a hammer to slam down on Evelyn. Evelyn quickly put up both her arms in a crossguard, which blocked the hammer-like strike, and Caelia deftly pulled her foot back and landed on the ground without a single wasted movement.

Before Evelyn even had a chance to blink, Caelia reached forward, thrusting a closed fist against her guard, which blew both her arms away from her face, leaving her truly vulnerable. Then, bringing the fist back with a vicious grin, she sent a right straight towards Evelyn's chest, to which Evelyn was able to bring both hands forward and catch the punch – and yet, her feet lost balance with the snow and she was sent flying backward as if shot out of a cannon.

Caelia was about to give chase, but Evelyn shouted out as her feet slid against the snow.

"That's enough!"

Her shout caused Caelia to pause and in the next moment, she began to relax, blowing out a content sigh of hot air as she stretched out her arms behind her head.

Evelyn walked forward, rubbing her hands against her short skirt with a scowl on her face. "I didn't say to punch as hard as you can…" She grumbled out, though I managed to hear as I had begun to walk over to Caelia when Evelyn called the match. Caelia giggled, scratching her cheek.

"You never said not to; just to slow down enough for Young Flamel to see!" Evelyn could only shake her head as she turned to me, her face returning back to normal.

"Now then, you see how useful close-quarter-combat truly is, Young Master?" Evelyn asked, tilting her head slightly with the question. Her eyes roamed my face, searching for something, though what it was, I didn't know. Her dull green eyes shone like an unwashed emerald, and yet, in the light, they were beautiful.

Caelia's eyes were gold, and though the pupils were black, it felt as if a flame was ever-present, which lit the eyes up to such a degree that they carried a certain intensity within them, much like molten lava.

I nodded towards Evelyn's question. "Of course, I see the value in knowing how to defend myself in case magic isn't the answer or it isn't applicable in my situation," I began, before glancing at Caelia's face, which studied mine intently, painfully obvious that she expected a certain answer to come between my lips. "And of course, I'd like to learn how to punch people," I said with an amused twinkle in my eyes, though Caelia missed it as her smile lit up even further.

"Of course," Evelyn muttered, closing her eyes as Caelia shouted excitedly. "In whichever manner you decide to explain your reasoning, it is time to begin your own training. We will first work on your reflections. I believe that is an apt skill to possess?" Evelyn looked at Caelia questionably, to which she received a nod from. "Then, Caelia will carefully – and slowly – punch you. Before she does so, she will announce _exactly _where the blow will land, and you will block. But first, Caelia will show you the proper stance and how to block."

Bowing slightly to me with her eyes closed, Evelyn finished her explanations and backed away a few meters to give us some room, her hands held together at her waist. Caelia strode forward, confidence oozing off her like her own body heat – which was somehow higher than what one would think.

Caelia then worked with me for several tens of minutes thereafter, showing me what my stance should look like and helping me set it up until I was able to do it from memory and then showed me how to block in multiple placed of my body with minimal movement that deviated from my stance. She even showed me a few ways to not block, which would cause openings to appear.

One such example she showed, was blocking a horizontal attack by raising my arm up to eye-level, as she explained that by doing so would limit my visibility. As Caelia explained each step carefully, I reevaluated my opinion of her – though only slightly.

'_Caelia isn't that smart; though it sounds rude, it's true and she admits it. But she really knows a lot about close-quarter-combat, huh?_'

It was only after an hour or two that we were ready. The sun was slowly falling down to the horizon and the sky was slowly being dyed a red that complimented Caelia's red tribal-like markings that decorated her body and part of her hair.

"Ready?" She eagerly asked, excitement apparent in the way her body shivered in the cold – though I doubt she even felt the cold – and her fists raised, ready to strike out at a moment notice. I nodded, dropping into the stance that Caelia had shown me earlier. Caelia thought through the first place she'd hit and smiled, her eyes staring intently into my left cheek. "Left cheek, with my right hand! A straight punch." She hastily added on. She gave me a second to comprehend her words and another to prepare to block.

Then her fist flew out and I felt a dull thud ring out. The next thing I felt was the back of my head hitting something crunchy, yet soft, and yelling in the distance, though it felt close. My head sung in a high pitch and the sky seemed to twirl around like a twister. My eyes unfocused, I stared into the concerned face of Caelia who was quickly pulled away by Evelyn who appeared to be berating her for her foolishness as the taller girl began to forcefully chop her in the head every time her mouth opened wide.

With a blink, I found myself staring into the concerned eyes of my mother, who I only just now noticed had been watching us from the second-floor window and I saw father hurrying closer several paces away. As he passed Caelia, he sent a small glare her away, to which the smaller girl backed up a few steps with shame flittering into her eyes. And then everything went dark.

'_Ah shit, here we go again._'

And just like that, I took my second nap on that same day.

* * *

**Ah shit, the end of the chapter again. Thank you guys for reading, it really means a lot! And yeah, Young Flamel here doesn't have great reflexes; but he will learn! And if he doesn't learn, he will compensate with magic! And more magic, plus his famous time manipulatory ability! So, he's gonna cheese it if he has to, or perhaps he'll simply git gud?**

**As a quick note, I've gotten into listening to a certain song during these chapters, notably, using it to write the last and this one. It's ****Alice in Wonderland 「Marasy」and it is rather great! Really feels good to write with it playing in the background.**

**Moving onto reviews now!**

**KnightsKing -**

**My response: **_Well, I hope you had fun reading this chapter that featured the adorable maids which will be showing up quite often in this volume now since they are back... though where were they? Maybe that piece of information will be figured out in the next chapter? Who knows?_

**xXxXx**

**emiya-excalibur -**

**My response: **_Thank you so much! I was worried that people wouldn't find it very interesting, but your words really helped! Thanks for the continued support._

**xXxXx**

**FinzDragzer -**

**My response: **_Yeah, I know right? Everyone wants to do Naruto, Naruto, and more Naruto! At some point, you just gotta say stop, enough is enough, right? Anyway, I like making my own characters; I have a lot of experience in that, at the very least!_

**xXxXx**

**Shi The Sin of Sloth -**

**My response: **_Well, you still put that phrase into the comment in the end, even if it was in quotes, so... good for you! And thanks; it really helps to get positive feedback, though negative feedback is always appreciated, as long as they take the time to explain what I did wrong..._

**xXxXx**

**Guest #1 -**

**My response: **_Thanks!_

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**Guest #2 -**

**My response: **_Thank you, and I could never ignore people who comment on my fics! Now, if I get, for example, thirty reviews during a chapter before my next one... well, that might be a bit... difficult. Hopefully, your day was great too, I had a fine one myself!_

**xXxXx**

**Creature of Grimm -**

**My response: **_:)_

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**CrimsonPyre -**

**My response: **_He is Martha's snuggly-bear, so of course she'd be clingy! It's only right :D_

**xXxXx**

**And, like I always say, something-something-something follow, something-something favorite, something-something review. And always remember: the Dark Side of the Force is the way to go! I hope I'll see you all again on the next installment of "Quest of Ravel"! Ciao!**


	8. Learning

**Volume 1 – A Quest Worth Completing  
Chapter 8 – Learning**

The year had come and go, from the cold December rose the New Year in January and the time seemed to crawl on and on from there. Snow has ceased from falling from the Heavens, yet snow still decorated the ground, the last traces of last year.

The temperature has gone up, but not by much. I no longer needed to wear my gift from my father, so I simply donned my usual outfit of a black vest with diamonds decorating the fabric over a white dress shirt and black dress pants, with brown dress shoes.

Today, I sat in my father's study as he read to me from a rather large, black leather-bound book that had runes inscribed into the spine.

Father read from the book rather lazily, flitting through pages whenever he got bored, not really paying much attention to the fact that he was supposed to be teaching me. Then again, he did open up this session with words that suggested that most of the book was rather ludicrous, so that must have been why he wasn't taking this seriously as he walked around the room, the book held in his left hand.

The sound of his steps upon the rug was actually calming; though I didn't know why. The contents of the book, however, was rather boring. I didn't know what the author was thinking when he decided to delve into his own personal experiences with each rune, getting severely off-topic, but I digress.

It was boring and I wanted to go play outside. And when I used the word _play_ I meant the word train, something no kid should ever desire, and yet, I wished for it badly to the point that I'd take any kind of interruption as a personal victory that _I_ would write about in a book, digressing from the current topic, much like this no-name author.

As if sensing my lack of attention, father aggravatingly sighed and closed the book loudly, causing me to sit up straight, surprised by the sudden act.

"I know this book is terrible," he started, rolling his eyes as he tossed the book behind his back without much care with a scoff. "But it's very educational on what _not _to do. I mean, his story on using Ansuz to stop a fire was absurd! Idiotic." The book landed against his desk with a loud clamor and my father hung his head down, rubbing his temples tentatively. "I believe I have a migraine now. Do you have any questions?" He turned to me, shifting subjects expertly – much like the author from this book.

I thought about what kind of questions I had, but realized that father was correct; everything in the book was simply absurd and idiotic, why waste a question on it? As that was the case, I decided to ask him a question I had been wondering ever since Caelia and Evelyn had left and returned in December.

Father nodded at my question, happy that I did not ask him a question about the book, and answered with a tight smile on his face, sweat glistening off his forehead, which he wiped away expertly with his purple handkerchief that he always kept with him. It had gold embroidery of two letters and two dots on the corner of the handkerchief, which formed _N.F._ though I didn't know what they stood for. I had a few guesses, but every time I asked him about it, he shifted the subject to something more interesting.

"Well, they definitely deserved a vacation of sorts because of all their hard work, so we sent them off. It was a special occasion for them, so we couldn't exactly say no."

"But didn't they depart in June? That'd mean their vacation was half a year, right? What was so special that they had half a year off?" The tilt of my head indicated that I was curious as to the answer to my question. Seeing this, father frowned, thinking through his answer carefully. Then, he snapped the fingers of his right hand, the snap coming out louder than it normally would be.

"Their hard work for the last two decades was extremely praiseworthy, thus, Martha and I decided that they definitely deserved some time off. And because of some various other subjects, that you aren't old enough to understand currently, we thought it best that they had an extended vacation for some quality time alone, away from their obligations and work, don't you think?"

"I still don't understand exactly…"

"That is understandable for your age, but really, if you want the answer, just ask them," he shrugged, crossing his arms. "Now then, do you have anything else that you would want-"

Just then, loud steps – almost suggesting that the source was currently running and in a hurry – could be heard. The two of us turned towards the door, curious as to what was happening outside the room, and just as we did, the door was pushed open forcefully, causing the door to bang against the wall of the room, though no mark was left behind.

Father curiously blinked as it was his wife that had run into the room, almost out of breath. Her eyes roamed the room and settled on her husband. The two stared into the others' eyes for a solid three seconds, until mother broke eye contact, looking towards me. A smile fluttered onto her face and she jumped over to me.

Her jump brought her over the coffee table that was set up in father's study and straight over to me, causing my eyes to widen at the effortless action. Her arms wrapped around me with an iron grip, keeping me stuck in place and her cheek rubbed itself against my hair.

"I needed a recharge, my snuggly-bear! I'm glad that I found you!" She purred, smiling as she rubbed her face against me. Her body kept me stuck on the sofa, though only her arms and face were touching me. Her green gown complimented her eyes extremely well, but I couldn't really see it too well since she was right on me.

"Martha!" Father sighed, rubbing his head. "If you needed to recharge, you could've waited until the ni- until later!" He quickly changed his line with a quick cough, though his slipup was still visible in my head. Various thoughts and images entered it, but I shook my head mentally, ignoring everything that he had implied by that. I was just an innocent kid; I don't understand anything.

"Oh, what a smooth operator," Martha rolled her eyes, a giddy smile on her face. "I didn't even know you were in here; where did you come from anyway?" Staring at her husband with curious eyes, it was her lips that betrayed her words, as they twitched upwards into an irresistible smile. George just shook his head and moved over, placing his hands on her shoulders with great care, causing the woman to lean away from me and place her head against her husband's chest.

"We locked eyes a few seconds earlier, don't you remember? Now then – you must leave, after all, we were currently in a lesson… and you remember that you aren't supposed to interrupt us in this time, correct?"

"Well, yeah," Martha conceded, slouching slightly in defeat, but this didn't last long as her body shot up into the air, causing father to take a step back, giving her enough space to land on the soft floor with her feet, her right hand raised and held into a salute. "But I just wanted to make sure my little snuggly-bear was a-oh-kay!" She stuck her tongue out in what could only be described as a cute manner, but father was unmoved. Then, placing his hands around his mouth as if to amplify his voice, he shouted.

"Evelyn, I need your assistance!" Mother blinked, balking at the sudden shout, but she remained confident as she settled back into the sofa next to me, hand against my shoulder and her head against the side of mine.

"You called for me?" Evelyn somehow replied from the door, surprising me as my body tensed from the unexpected reply. Feeling this, Martha held me tightly, her head rubbing against mine once more. '_I thought she was in the backyard trimming the bushes while Caelia was fixing up dinner…_'

Though seeing Evelyn already somehow in the study would make most people think that I was lying with that statement; I really wasn't.

Caelia could cook. It's one of her most redeemable traits after all.

The thought could only make me sigh – after all, Caelia was terrible at doing most household chores. With that said, Evelyn was great at almost everything, but she was utterly terrible at cooking, which is why Caelia was the one who usually cooked. Though when she would otherwise be occupied, it would land upon father who would cook; Martha was equally as bad as Evelyn at the task, though at least her food didn't ruin any pots, pans, and everything else that was utilized when she cooked. Though not as good as Caelia, his food was exceptional.

With that said, Evelyn would still be qualified as the better maid, simply because of the amount of work she could get done and the high quality of it as well simply raised her evaluation of her skills as a maid.

"I want you to take Martha out of the room – and keep her out," father said with authority in his tone, straightening his stance and adjusting the black-tie he wore as he spoke, though he finished with a smile. "Oh, and tell Caelia to hurry up with the dinner preparation; I'm starving!"

Evelyn bowed her head in answer and immediately walked over to Martha, who stared up at the stoic maid with a confident grin as if expecting Evelyn to not even attempt to touch her. However, crushing her expectations, Evelyn grabbed Martha's shoulders and hauled her up onto her feet, before picking her up and draping her over her shoulder like a carpet, all in one motion even!

"Wha- what are you doing!? Put me down, Evelyn! Listen to me!" Martha shouted, swinging her fists and feet back and forth as if she were throwing a tantrum. Evelyn, however, did not heed her master's words and simply walked over to the doorway and out of the room with quick, almost soundless, steps. "I'm the one you're contracted to, right? So, listen to me, please!"

However, Evelyn spun around, staring straight into father's eyes, and bowed her head low, closing the door before her smoothly as she did so. Though the door was closed, the two of us could still hear Martha shout at Evelyn to let her go, which the maid did not do, as Martha never attempted to reenter the room.

George shook his head and sighed out loud. Turning my eyes to him, I noticed that he looked far more tired than he had earlier when he was reading that lousy book. "Yep," he popped his lips on the 'p'. "I definitely have a migraine now."

I held back a giggle, though a little bit of laughter slipped past my lips before I could cover my mouth, and George turned a sharp glare my way. In the next moment, said glare softened and he exhaled a breath, rubbing his head as he did.

"Well, let's get back on track," he started, staring at the book with disdain evident in his facial expression. "And start a _new_ lesson." Suddenly turning back to me with a smile, the fatigue instantly drained itself from his eyes as he began to ignore the existence of the book completely.

"What will we be learning?" I asked eagerly, excited to move onto something actually relevant.

"Well, I was meaning to show you the difference in spacing in runes, so we'll do that. I'll start with something simple, so you don't need to feel confused." Nodding to him, I watched him draw a set of runes into the air, a deep blue in color. When he was done, he spun them around so that I could read them correctly.

ᚷᛒ⋅ᚾᛇᛏ were the runes that he had turned towards me. Frowning, I spoke the runes' name aloud, muttering them loud enough for father to hear me in case I was incorrect, though I highly doubted that this was the case.

"Gebo, Berkana, I suppose that interpunct is a space?" I questioned, momentarily stopping, to which he nodded, and I continued after a slight pause. "Naudhitz, Eihwaz, and Teiwaz." I leaned back into the sofa now, though confused. "What kind of effect does this have?" I asked father with a questionable tilt of my head.

He frowned for a moment, arms crossed, as he stared at the runes with a complicated look on his face as if reliving an event in the past. At last, he released a breath of air and turned back to me. "Gebo suggests unity while Berkana continues with a new beginning. Naudhitz creates a compulsion, Eihwaz forms a defensive force, and Teiwaz ends it with courage and devotion. All in all, the overall effect wouldn't be thought of as much, but watch closely."

Grabbing a random black pen from off his desk, he wrote the same set of runes onto the pen. Turning back to the runes he had left hanging in the air, he swatted the pen at them, though I quickly noticed that he hadn't activated the runes on the pen, nor the ones in the air. Upon contact, the runes hanging in the air cracked and crumbled away, much like a magic circle would do if a sufficiently powerful enough force touched against it.

"As you saw, when struck even by a weak force, inactivated runes disappear easily. Even a baby could do it; which is why you should always activate them without pause." He said this eyeing me, making sure that I understood this point. I nodded, allowing him to continue with his explanation of this lesson. As he continued speaking, he wrote a new set of runes, though I easily figured out that the random drawings didn't matter as they were just for show, just for this lesson. "Now, when I activate these runes, what do you think the result would be? Normally, one would think that it would form something defensive – and though they could be counted as correct – that isn't the full scope of the answer that is needed. With that in mind, do you think you could reasonably give me an answer?" Raising his eyebrow as if challenging me, I frowned in thought.

'_What could I tell him that could be correct? No, that isn't the right way to address this question. I shouldn't try and figure it out; I should try to say something that makes sense given what I have. It doesn't matter if I'm off target, but I should aim for as close to the center as I can, expecting not to hit anything._'

With that thought, I thought back to the runes that were utilized.

Gebo and Berkana for the first word, then Naudhitz, Eihwaz, and Teiwaz for the second. It quickly dawned on me that both of these were of the combined category of Runic Magic, meaning, that it used multiple runes together to form a single, though my varied effect than simply using one. How that fact escaped me was unknown, but I suppose I could just count it as having a brain fart because of that book from earlier and the event with my mother which disrupted my thoughts even further.

'_Father already gave the meanings of each rune, but now I have to stitch them together, though that was easier said than done. Gebo and Berkana formed a unity with a new beginning, so something is forming together, though this is most likely to set up the second word. Naudhitz, Eihwaz, and Teiwaz could be translated to be a compulsion of a defensive force that causes courage and devotion, based on the meaning he gave me. But how did all of this come together?_'

Scrunching up my face in thought, I stared hard at the pen which held these runes, though he had yet to activate them still. At seeing my attention on the pen, he held it out to me, and I accepted it without hesitation.

No matter how many times I stare, or how hard I stared at them, the ᚷᛒ⋅ᚾᛇᛏ runes never changed nor offered me any form of description for what ability that they completed. Sighing, I leaned back into the sofa, closing my eyes. I flicked the pen up into the air and towards my father, who easily caught it – or at least I didn't hear that he had fumbled with it or that it had kissed the ground.

"I give up," I spoke in a defeated tone. "It doesn't make sense; I can't think of anything that these runes would do besides providing some form of defense!" Sitting up, I cried this last part out to my father who smiled in amusement, rather, it was a smirk at knowing something that I didn't know.

"Then, allow me to answer your question." With a roll of my eyes, he activated the runes. They glowed a fierce red, and as if they were cutting through the pen itself, the light wrapped around it, causing the pen to glow red. "To bring about unity through a new beginning, to show a compulsion that would bring about a defensive force through that of courage and devotion – I was not wrong in what the meaning meant, however, you must keep in mind that even a single word in the meaning could have multiple definitions at once. As such, allow me to show you a demonstration."

Eyes locked upon the pen as if eyeing succulent candy, I stared as father brought the pen back – and down into the runes he had carved in midair as if swinging a blade, violent red meeting a deep blue.

However, crumbling my expectations, the pen passed through the runes without them cracking and breaking apart. As the pen met the inactivated runes, the red glow caused the runes to buckle away, disrupting the written symbols in the air, however, as the pen went by them, the red glow of the pen leaving the deep blue, the runes reformed in midair, as if they were no problems.

"As you see, with the runes activated, they allow such a curious showing." He nodded, spinning the pen around thrice before swiping the side of it, causing the red glow to dissipate and the set of runes that were written upon the pen to disappear. He tossed the pen onto his desk without looking – which then bounced against the book that he had tossed onto it earlier and landed on his chair, though he didn't acknowledge this fact – and sent me a smile that I couldn't read. "Any questions you would like answered?"

After staring at the floating deep blue runes in silence for a moment, I sat back, thoughts swirling through my skull. "Runic Magic is deep." I replied without looking at my father. After a moment, father began to loudly laugh to the point that he had to hold his side in pain. His laughter was contagious, and I began to laugh along with him, though it ended up appearing much more tiring than his.

"Ah, Charles Flamel, my beloved son, you will go far since you understand that fact," he praised, wiping a tear from his eye. Shaking his head, he smirked proudly at me. "After all, that was the same line I said to my teacher when she showed me these runes too."

I smiled at hearing him speak of his teacher – though it was rare, he sometimes mentions her in passing, though when he does, a sadness would well up in his eyes, however, this time, there was no such melancholy sight dancing in his electric blue iris.

"Then, what did she tell you as to how the runes formulate this result?" I asked, practically on the edge of my seat. Father smiled, rolling his shoulders, buying his time and increasing the suspense in my question. At last, he finally answered my question with a big grin on his face.

"I don't know; she never stopped laughing so I was unable to ask my question."

* * *

**And once again, the end has arrived. Thank you to those of you who decided to follow/favorite this story. There was only... one review after the next chapter, so that part will be easy to get through! Now, I like getting reviews as much as the next guy, but, I also do like getting few reviews to respond to! Just, don't have zero reviews... that would be too sad.**

**emiya-excalibur -**

**My response: **_Well, he did learn Japanese first. I think he's preparing for his role in becoming a Vampire, now all that's left is to acquire a casket and then he can... mudamudamudamudamudamudamudamudamuda!_

**xXxXx**

**Well, with that done, I'd like to congratulate our one-week anniversary - which was actually yesterday, on Saturday, as I'm writing this spontaneously at 3:30 in the morning. Ignoring that, however... clap, clap, clap!**

**Anyway, if you really enjoyed and would like to receive notifications when the next chapter has been uploaded, you only have to click the follow button! To show that your appreciation for this story, telling me that you really like it, click the favorite! And if you want to send me a thesis of a sentence or two in length, then write it all out in the box below, and send it to me as a review!**

**I'd appreciate hearing if there is anything that is being done wrong or if you want a question answered, or else... you may forever hold your tongue! Until next time my readers, ciao!**


	9. Birthday

**Volume 1 – A Quest Worth Completing  
Chapter 9 – Birthday/1**

It was now the beginning of April; it was a very special day for two separate reasons. The first was a more widely known reason, that being April Fool's Day, a time in which people – Supernatural or otherwise – would go out of their way to prank their friends, family, and even acquaintances. However, such a holiday was strictly banned from the Flamel household due to the other reason for today being important.

The second reason was actually incredibly relevant to me, and not just the reason for banning April Fool's Day. That would be – my birthday.

On this day, now eight years ago, I was born to my parents, George and Martha Flamel. The day that I was reincarnated into this world from when my previous life was cut a bit short, though the circumstances surrounding my death were an enigma to me.

I leaned back, a sigh escaping my lips. My eyes turned upwards, staring up at the blue sky above. I lazily watched the clouds drifting across the blue above, green leaves dancing in the wind above me, connected to the olden tree I leaned against.

The grass beneath me was soft, though slightly wet from the downpour the other day. Even still, magic would be a quick fix if my outfit was ruined even slightly; magic was amazing like that. Without even suggesting it, several runes flickered into my thoughts, which I knew would easily fix any stain that came up on my outfit. Even without that, my parents were sure to fix it with but a glance.

Today I wore a light blue vest with vertical lines over a white dress shirt with long sleeves, black dress pants, and the same colored dress shoes. Draped over my legs, was a black suit jacket which I had over my vest earlier but took off due to the slight warmth in the air.

After a few minutes of cloud watching, I turned my attention back to the book that I was currently reading through. I had received this book earlier today from my father, a somewhat early birthday present since I had several others that were put away for later which would be opened after eating whatever cake was being prepared for me. Since I didn't really want to be inside, he simply handed me the book with a quick 'happy birthday' and sent me on my way; I really liked that about him.

Thus, I took the book and went outside to begin reading it; the party inside was one that I was unused to. Never before had so many people visited – even at last year's party. No matter the holiday, it was just the five of us – George, Martha, Caelia, Evelyn, and me. The five of us always spent time together on holidays and birthdays, before returning back to our own daily life.

But today appeared to be a much more special day, as several others were invited, many of which I did not recognize – rather, I knew none of them. A few kids were also present, but I was uninterested in spending time with them. Blinking, I turned the page. The crinkle of pages invaded the near silence of the moment, but it faded as quickly as it had come.

My eyes drifted across the lines of text, each word being read clearly within my mind, even as I thought of other things, such as when the cake would be cut and what kind of presents I would be receiving from mother, the maids, and everyone else who had decided to show up today. Though I did not expect much from the people who I knew not of, I was eager for what the others had in store for me.

Breathing out yet another sigh, I reread a line that I had accidentally skipped due to my loss of attention, however, movement in the corner of my peripheral stole my attention yet again.

Turning to my right, I stared into the blue orbs of a girl that I did not recognize, but who seemed oddly familiar. Though I could not place her identity exactly, her appearance was similar to someone that I had previously seen before; not of this life, but of my last one.

She wore a yellow dress, one that I would compare to the kind of dress that a princess or a noble would wear, which revealed her slightly red shoulders. Tied around her neck, a red ruby was her necklace and white evening gloves covered her fingers down to just past her elbows. Her frilly dress covered her legs and feet, though her crystal blue eyes stared into mine with clear clarity in them, a sign of a child's curiosity present in them.

Her hair was short, not even reaching her shoulders, though it was a bit longer in the back, as evident by it being tied into a short ponytail due to a black ribbon. A braid traveled from one end of her head to the other, an orange ribbon attached. Her bangs fell down to her eyes, and though her hair was combed down to a smooth state, a few strands were plucked up and wild, most likely due to the wind that gently flittered by.

I blinked at her sudden appearance, wondering quietly to myself as to why she was here, and she smiled in delight as our gazes connected to the other.

"What are you reading?" she asked politely in a soft tone, turning her head around as she leaned closer, lips slightly parted so that she could spy upon the page. Her eyes danced across the pages, attempting to read the lines, but her frown and eyebrows which knit itself in concentration told me that she didn't understand what was written on the pages.

"A book about Alchemy that's written in Latin," I answered after a hesitant pause, watching her nod her head absentmindedly to what I had said as she began to mutter low to herself the words that appeared on the page as if trying to figure out the meaning. Her pronunciation wasn't the best, but it could've been because she wasn't speaking that high that I missed a few syllables. However, as she spoke the words, I could almost swear she was getting better at pronouncing them. "You won't be able to understand it if you don't speak Latin." I hurriedly explained to her, but she hardly glanced up at me before replying, causing me to frown in thought and slight annoyance.

"You won't know until you try!" She reasoned, a glint appearing in her eyes like a star, leaning even closer to the pages. Her face leaned side to side, fluttering about like a butterfly, her eyes sparkled as a pointy tooth stuck out in concentration between her pursed lips. Due to her close proximity, I became somewhat uncomfortable, but I didn't stop her. Deceased God knows that my own mother doesn't understand personal boundaries, so I'm already used to people getting way too close to me. Caelia was the same as her, but she _did_ refrain in most situations. It was just when she was really worried that she became clingy. Evelyn, on the other hand, respected personal space and always kept a reasonable distance away from others in normal, everyday, situations. However, it was always Caelia that broke this rule of hers, as the two always stood near one another.

Rolling my eyes, I simply let the girl do as she wanted, already knowing that she won't be able to understand the words written no matter how hard she tried. Crossing the language barrier was one of the most difficult things to do without proper learning and experience and she appeared to be younger than me. There was no way she would be able to understand what was written. Even at my best, it would take at least two weeks to two months to learn an entire language; I highly doubted that this girl would be able to do the same in a single day.

Which was why it had come as such a surprise thirty minutes later when she successfully translated an entire Latin sentence into English.

"So… then… it would be…" She began, before pausing for a short moment, her lips pursed before breaking into a smile. "'Alchemy is ruled by that of equivalent exchange, however, through the use of great magical force, one can circumvent this, however, that is simply switching the trade through natural means to supernatural means, and in that case, it keeps with the idea of equivalent exchange and because of this, one can manipulate that of matter, such as the formation of rocks, or even through the creation of flame, through the temporary loss of their own energy – however, this is a more subtle technique, which requires perfection of the art, an understanding of specific sciences that would allow an Alchemist to manipulate matter itself.'" She paused for a moment in concentration and in that time, I could only stare at her with wide eyes, surprise easily evident upon my face. Then, leaning back, she pressed a finger to her bottom lip and pursed her lips in thought. Finally, she turned innocent eyes to me and asked a question that made me blink in surprise. "What's Alchemy?"

'_She read all of that somehow, but she doesn't even know what Alchemy is!? What kind of prodigy is this? What bullshit!_' Shaking my head from the rather absurd situation, I turned my attention back to the girl who eagerly awaited my response. I cleared my throat and answered to the best of my ability.

"As you just read, it's a form of magic that utilizes science through the manipulation of matter. With it, one can create a flame, they can freeze the moisture in the air and create ice, and they can even manipulate the stone that they're standing on, or soil and everything in between." She nodded as I stopped in my explanation momentarily, turning an eye back to the house, as if by doing so my mother will suddenly appear and whisk me away from this situation. However, at seeing no help arrive to save me from this random girl, I reluctantly continued.

"Besides the combat purposes, it can also be used to change lead into gold, be used to create powerful medicine, and it can even grant an immortal life."

The girl stared sharply at me and quickly shook her head, lips curled downward. "Mother says no one can live forever!" She argued, lips set in a harsh line, her lightly fixed pink lipstick glinting slightly in the light. "Which means Alchemy is wrong!" With her reasoning finished and pounding a fist into her right thigh as if making a valid point, she nodded her head, content in herself and what she had just said.

I stared at her in silence, wondering what I could say to her. As I stared at her in silence, malicious thoughts grew in my head and I began to etch out a certain plan. '_What did kids not like to hear again? Oh, yeah, anything to do with that…_' Grinning, I raised my voice, seemingly changing the subject. "Do you believe in Santa Clause?"

Turning beaming eyes that sparkled towards me, I felt my heart momentarily freeze under pressure, but I resolved myself to continue forward. "Yes!" She cried out, stars practically glinting within her blue orbs.

"Well, if Alchemy is wrong… Santa is also wrong!"

"Wh-what!?" Confused, she leaned away from me. Eyes going wide, I almost laughed at her comical reaction. "Why?" She demanded, a glare suddenly appearing in her eyes.

"How do you think Santa gets his presents?" I questioned her and she replied immediately.

"With Elves, obviously!" Rolling her eyes as if the answer was the simplest thing in the world, she answered my question with an almost accusing tone in her voice.

"And how do the Elves make the presents?" Never before in my previous life, had I been told how the Elves made the presents that Santa supposedly delivered across the world. I had previously assumed they built them by hand – but some presents seemed impossible to build from hand. Such as certain gaming consoles and video games themselves; not saying they can't be built, but it would be a bit over the top. And, just as I had expected, the girl froze at my question, her face turning pale under the almost afternoon light. I felt my grin widen in almost delight – rather, it _was_ from delight – and I mentally patted myself on the back. '_I don't think he'd be pleased by this, but I couldn't exactly let her insult the Alchemy that father practices, or that my household is known for!_' Coughing into my fist to get her attention, I saw her turn weak eyes to me. Deciding to finish what I had started; I answered the question for her. "With Alchemy, of course."

After hearing my answer, the girl visibly deflated. Her shoulders slumping, she looked down at the grass she sat upon in silence. I felt bad for the kid, I really did, but sometimes, the nonexistent pride within me had to be protected.

Which was an awful excuse, but it's not like I cared anyway.

Going back to my book, I eagerly continued to read in peace.

**×  
No POV**

Inside the Flamel's place of living, a man with black hair breathed out an agitating sigh, as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Similar to his son, he disliked having to be around so many different people. No matter how long of a life he had lived, George Flamel simply couldn't handle the number of people that crowded his living space, which was why he made sure only a few people lived with him and his family, those being his own personal maid and his wife's own personal maid.

Which came as a surprise because he absolutely loved his wife, Martha Flamel, who didn't believe in personal space – but that was a story for another time, one that George himself finds discomfort in due to her having broken the boundaries he had set up all his life.

Swirling around the red liquid in his glass, George watched the wine move around the edges, pretending that he was watching a whirlpool emerge in an ocean. Gazing down at the red liquid, he nearly jumped when a hand landed harshly against his back, though years of practice caused him to show no reaction to such a sudden, and rather forceful, touch.

Turning a glare to whoever had slapped his back, George stared upon one of his closest friends – one of the dozen or so of people in the world who knew his greatest secret.

"Uther." George greeted with a nod of his head, though a bite in his tone.

The now named Uther chuckled lowly, though he was not amused. "George. It is nice to see you again. How long has it been, again? Eight years now?"

Uther wore clothing befitting that of a King or a noble – a white cape with the inside being red was over a purple coat that had a gold lining, which was over a white dress shirt and pants. The shoulders of the cape were lined with a light-colored fur, which had come from some beast or another, George couldn't tell. Adorned upon his left ring finger, was a silver ring with a ruby studded around sapphire, with gold lining the ring. On his right index finger was another ring, though this one was simply silver in design with black writing etched into the sides.

He wore white and black boots and a black crown, which was similar to a tiara in design, which was placed over his forehead. His blond hair had hints of white running across it and his beard was well-trimmed. The man stood tall and proud, though it was clear that it was an ingrained habit, as he rubbed his back every now and then.

George chuckled lightly, though he did not deny the statement. "Either way, I'm glad you made it." The aged man shook his head, a halfhearted smile upon his face.

"I couldn't exactly say no, regardless of the distance I had to travel. You know our wives are friends; she'd forcefully drag me by the neck if I had attempted to stay home."

At that, George outright laughed. "You?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow, a smile upon his face in amusement. "Get dragged by the neck? Who was it again that was known as the '_Chosen Knight of Humanity_' and a former member of the Cardinal Paladins? The greatest knight to ever live after that of Arthur Pendragon?"

He shook his head, chuckling lowly. "Those days are behind me, George. You know it's been a long time since I've wielded the blade." Breathing out a melancholic sigh, he turned his attention to the window next to us, humming. "It seems that my daughter is getting along with your son."

George laughed lightly, closing his eyes as if pleasantly enjoying the conversation. Before he knew it, his hand was wrapped around the neck of the aged man, staring dangerously into his blue eyes. Of course, his wine glass was deposited safely on the nearby table. "Haha, stop lying you old coot."

Though George wore a pleasant smile on his face, his body demeanor was anything but pleasant, as evident easily by the vein popping out of his temple from anger and the shadow hanging over his eyes. Uther grinned sharply, his throat hitching in laughter.

"If you call that a choke, you have a lot to learn." He remarked, pushing George back. The younger man relented, though he still glared upon the older man, trying hard to ignore the urge to stare out the window. "Why not take a gander and look? They seem to be enjoying themselves."

While George would consider himself an impressive father-figure, he also tried to hold himself at a less clingy level than his wife. As such, he found that he quite enjoyed watching his little son from the shadows; and this was his first trial.

The ancient rite of passage in which the father fervently denies the chances of his child finding love by pushing away any and all parents that walk to him hoping for their kids to become friends – and if he can – to push away the child as well.

Unfortunately, George didn't purchase a gun to use as an intimidation factor, and as such, he knew that he would lose in the end. But it didn't mean he couldn't try.

"I highly doubt that they're getting along. I'm guessing your idiot of a wife said something around the lines of 'Alchemy is fake, hahaha' and her daughter took it to heart. We Flamels could never like someone like that!"

"You dare to call me such things behind my back?"

Feeling a chilling shiver run down his spine, George decided it was wise to not look behind him. Awkwardly grinning, George greeted the woman who had walked up to him with him none the wiser – without looking, of course.

"Ah, hello Guinevere. Have you found Martha yet? I'm sure she's anxious to-"

"Nevermind that cow. Care to repeat what you had just said?" The woman interrupted with a voice of authority slithering throughout the room like a fog. "And look at me when you speak to me. It's bad manners." Clearing his throat, George slowly turned around and looked into the sharp blue eyes of his friend's wife, which was narrowed into a small glare.

She wore a dress resembling that of a formal military uniform dress, which was dark blue in color with dark silver lining the front of it. The skirt was cut open on the sides, revealing her thighs, with her legs covered by a dark blue stocking that rose up past her knees, which was mostly under black boots that reached just underneath her knees. She wore a white cape over her shoulders, not bothering to wear it properly, which had light blue on the inside. Around her neck tied by a loose cord, was a metal plate with a blue pattern engraved upon it.

She wore black gloves on her hands, which shielded away from the sight of her singular ring, which matched the placement of her husband's ring and even the appearance matched exactly.

She had blonde hair, which was finely combed into strands of gold, with the sides falling down to her rather large breasts, which surpassed Martha's in size. Her bangs flowed down to her eyes and a strand of hair was raised over her head – similar to Martha, though it flopped down sharply, unlike Martha's which arced up and then down. The back of her hair was pulled into a bun and braided, though even with that, she had hair running down her back slightly. The woman carried herself with an air of superiority, which was something George could not refute.

While the Alchemist and expert in Runic Magic could potentially rival that of Uther, he knew that the woman before him was out of his league. However, even if she was weaker, he'd still be afraid of her. The reason was because of her rather arrogant attitude and her personality which hinted at him and most everyone else that they were simply insects and George hated being compared to an insect. Her aura was one of oppression, stifling all around them.

"Well, I was simply saying how great it was that such a nice, charming, woman, such as yourself, of course, could make it…"

"Really?" She raised an eyebrow, though her face remained unmoved. She raised her right hand, placing it against her hip as she leaned slightly to her left. "Because I could've sworn you called me an idiot."

"That's because you are one." And just like that, George was saved. Sauntering into the room wearing her usual short red dress, was Martha, a wide smile which glowed upon her lips was set into a confident and eager arch. Guinevere slowly turned her head, acting surprised that Martha had appeared.

"Oh?" She lowly spat, leaning her head slightly back so she could stare down at Martha – even though they were the same height. "I didn't know you allowed animals into the house. Maybe next time I'll bring my horse – after all, you have a cow right here."

The glass that Martha held audibly cracked, but all ignored it. Her smile twitching, Martha finished sauntering up to Guinevere and stared into her blue eyes with her own lime green ones. "Oh?" She repeated back at Guinevere, causing the woman to raise a brow, urging her rival to continue. "You may say this, but is it not you who brought an animal into here first? After all, I'm staring at one."

A few seconds passed in silence, a heavy tension filling the room. George and Uther slowly walked back to the window as quietly as possible, grim expressions set upon their faces. Leaning closer to the younger man, Uther whispered low so that their wives could not hear.

"Do you think we can make a break for it?"

"If you make a distraction, I can get a few runes prepared," George said back to him without even glancing at him.

"How many seconds?" Uther asked, a heavy frown settling upon his lips.

"Two," George replied, his eyes narrowing upon the climax of their wives' conversation. Uther nodded several times and prepared to take a step forward.

However, he quickly stopped as the wine glass that Martha previously held crashed against the wall just behind him. Uther slowly turned to look at George, a bead of sweat slithering down his face. George nodded reluctantly.

"Abort mission. I… must handle this." He muttered, sighing out in exasperation. Walking forward, he prepared himself to get between the two very dangerous women who were about to fight. "Excuse me, ladies, please do not break-"

"Shut up, honey."

"Yes, ma'am." Immediately, without hesitation, George was shut down by his own wife. Now crestfallen, George turned around and walked back over to Uther, who had settled for leaning against the wall, arms crossed, and right leg placed over his left. Wearing a smug grin, he jabbed his thumb at the window he leaned next to.

George stared out of the window; his eyes darkened in fear. However, his expression quickly brightened, and an eager smirk grew onto his face.

"Martha, baby," George called, still staring out the window. Martha growled underneath her breath but looked over anyway.

"Yes?" She questioned with a dangerous tone, her gaze flickering back upon her rival's face. George gestured towards the window and with a frown, Martha walked past Guinevere, though not without bumping shoulders with her, causing the woman to growl at her.

Walking over to the window, Martha stared at George curiously, but he simply shrugged, offering no explanation. Looking out of the window, Martha froze. Then, gesturing for Guinevere to join her, the other woman hurried over with a thump of her boots against the floor.

She, too, stared out of the window – before freezing just as Martha had done.

Outside, leaning against the tree, was the son of George and Martha. And next to him, was the daughter of Uther and Guinevere, who was currently practically leaning into him. They easily spied the smile that was plastered over her face, and though Charles wore an annoyed expression onto his face, he wasn't shrinking away from her close proximity.

The first one to speak was Guinevere.

"I regret coming here."

"Me too." Martha nodded, agreeing with the woman.

At the same time that Martha agreed, new footsteps could be heard entering the room. Spinning around, the two women stared at a young boy, who was a few years older than that of Charles Flamel, the oldest child of Uther and Guinevere.

"Ah, boy." Guinevere began, glancing at Uther, who nodded immediately, pushing himself from the wall and uncrossing his arms at the same time.

"I need you to run an errand for me." Uther began, jerking his chin over to the window. The young boy wearing glasses looked over and spotted the two next to the tree. "Bring your sister over here, would you? We would like to introduce her to the Flamels here." Gesturing towards them with his arm, the young boy nodded his head, expression hardly changing. Turning around on spot, he immediately left.

George nodded at the interaction. "Good kid." He spoke, left hand held against his right elbow, while his right hand was placed underneath his chin as if in a 'thinking' position. Uther nodded.

"Excellent with a blade, too. Probably better than me when I was his age." George whistled at the compliment.

"Coming from you? It must be true. Especially if that cow is his mother." Martha replied, smirking at Guinevere, who made no move to fire back any insult, causing Martha to raise a brow as she held her hands against her hips, leaning more upon her right foot than her left. "Though, our child is much sweeter."

"He is also a genius for his age." George elaborated, smiling proudly. "Probably smarter than me when I was his age." Reiterating what Uther had said earlier, the younger man earned a raised eyebrow from the aged man. Guinevere chuckled, surprising the three other occupants inside the room.

"Then, after you judge our _prodigy _of a daughter, how about we judge your son?"

"No, no, and also, no." Martha refuted, stomping her foot with each 'no'. Guinevere smiled but did not reply. No matter how hard Martha glared at the other woman, she did not relent. Crossing her arms, Guinevere stared out the window and watched her son close the distance to the two other children, who looked up towards him as if he had just called out to them.

George looked outside as well; a bit nervous. Truthfully, he didn't mind his son getting friendly with the girl. However, he still felt a bit apprehensive about the situation. Feeling a hand touch his own, he allowed his wife to clasp hands with him. Holding his hand gently, Martha grinned at him sweetly, causing him to smile.

'_Right, it's just a simple meeting. Not like we're signing a marriage form. If we are, they're not invited into our home again. I'll make sure of it._' With those thoughts, George tightened his grip on his wife's hand and waited.

**×  
Charles POV**

It had taken some time, but my savior had finally arrived in the form of a boy, a few years my elder, who was apparently the older brother of the girl who now attempted to break my spirit with random facts and, most likely, some lies and exaggerations mixed in for good measure.

It turns out that their parents had called for the young girl next to me, and had sent their eldest child to fetch her, which was fortunate for me. Standing up and brushing the grass off her skirt, the girl ran away from me and towards her brother. Just as she reached him, she spun around, a large grin plastered over her face and pointy tooth glinting in the light of the sun.

Pointing a delicate finger at me, she shouted over to me so that I could hear.

"Don't you forget what you said to me, Santa's Archnemesis! I'll get you back, I swear on it!" With that said, she spun back around and ran away, her destination – my house.

Her brother watched her go as I stared blankly after her, turning the page of the Alchemy book slowly. The boy turned to me and tilted his head as if asking what that was about. I replied with a simple shrug and stood up, closing the book after glancing at the page number.

The boy walked over, his back straight, and held out a hand for me to shake. Staring down at the proffered hand, I accepted after a small pause.

"Arthur." He introduced, his voice neutral and balanced, as all things should be.

"Charles," I replied back, my expression not changing, though my eyes were still locked upon the girl who had just reached the side of my house, slightly out of breath.

Looking at Arthur, I could tell with a simple glance; he was strong. Though he was only a few years older than me, his body muscles were toned, appearing small and thin, though compact, hiding away their true strength.

His unblinking, blue eyes shown like the ocean, a dark blue in contrast to the girl's lighter blue, which was reminiscent of the stars. His blond hair was meticulously combed, though puffs of it stood up at the side regardless.

He wore a white dress shirt with a black vest over it and black dress pants with dress shoes of the same color. Glancing at his hands, I easily noticed the calluses one might have from constant training with a weapon and judging by his lean built, I could guess that he trained in the blade, a sword.

Frowning for a moment, an idea crossed through my head. Grinning, I gestured towards my right with my chin and he stared confused.

"You train in the sword, right?" He nodded after a pause, unsure as to where this was going. "Would you like to have a spar really quick? I know someone who should be free right now that you might find interesting…" Leaving the statement off, I took a few steps towards where she would be right around this time and glanced back to see what his decision would be. I spied him frowning in thought, before nodding, curiosity getting the better of him, and he hurried after me. Without waiting any longer, I turned back and hurried off, stepping against the grass lightly with Arthur a step or two behind me.

It took roughly ten minutes from there, circling around the perimeter of the house, where the open field meets the line of trees, to find her. Laying against a tree with four claw marks, which was ripped into the bark of the tree as if from a beast, was Caelia. Her favorite spot for when she was taking a break from working.

Eyes closed, her chest lifted itself upwards, before deflating as she breathed out. Her lips were parted slightly, and her body was relaxed completely, her palms opened, and fingers curled out slightly, as the back of her hands lay against the grass beneath her. Feet laid out, and legs straight.

Walking towards her, I glanced back to see Arthur's reaction. Though he was wearing a frown, the eyes which hid behind his glasses told a different story. A bead of sweat made its way down his forehead as his eyes locked upon the girl sleeping against the tree, drool slipping out of her mouth. To his eyes, she might have appeared an innocent young girl – though with some obvious differences in her body's appearance than normal girls – but his instincts were definitely screaming at him to be careful.

Chuckling on the inside at his reaction, I stopped a couple of feet away from Caelia, observing her as she slept for a moment before poking her with a stick that I had picked up earlier as we made our way over.

After a few pokes in quick succession, Caelia's eyes snapped wide open, which made Arthur jump out of shock, though he quickly fixed his posture and wiped away the expression of surprise on his face, though his cheeks flushed red in embarrassment. I openly chuckled, which drew Caelia's attention over to me, her eyes still humorously wide. Seeing me laughing, but not knowing as to why I was laughing, she tilted her head in confusion, lips scrunched up in thought.

However, before she could say anything, I beat her to the punch first. "Arthur here-" I gestured to the bespectacled boy behind me with my hand, causing the blonde-haired Stray Devil to turn to look at him curiously. "-wanted to challenge you to a spar with swords. Do you accept, or be called a chicken, chicken?"

At hearing my halfhearted taunt, Caelia leaped up from where she lay, spinning forward a single time, before landing onto her red feet with ease. With her hands pointed upward as if she had just finished an acrobatic performance, the smirk which twitched upon her lips ruined the scene, however, turning golden eyes to Arthur, she smiled.

"You wanted to fight me?" She questioned him, though it didn't sound much like a question. "Hah, bring it on!" Bringing her left hand up to her right horn, she grasped the protrusion with a gentle grip – however, in the next moment, she violently ripped the horn from her skull, causing some blood to spurt out of the wound.

Arthur jumped back, mouth agape and eyes wide in horror at the self-inflicted injury, but I did not react due to already knowing what was happening. Laughing like the battle maniac that she was, she broke the horn once more, splitting it into two. Before Arthur could begin to yell for help, the broken stub of a horn that was on her head began to magically mend itself, the blood which poured out of it ceasing, though the sign of injury was still present.

Staring with confusion, I decided to explain what had happened to him.

"Caelia here, our close-quarter-combat specialist, was a former Evil Dragon, now reincarnated Devil. She possesses some incredible regenerative abilities, but that isn't all that she can do either!" Taking a few steps back to give the girl some room, Caelia took a fragment of her horn with her left hand and the other with her right and began to twirl them around.

As the black horns which melded into red twirled within her hands, they began to give off a faint white light. As the speed of rotation grew, that light grew as well, which also, in turn, began to blind Arthur. However, as I had already expected this turn of events, I had turned around as she began to spin the horns around in her hands, so I was not affected by the bright light which was comparable to the headlights of a car in the dead of night.

Finally, Caelia ceased twirling her own broken horn, and as the light died down, Arthur noted that the horns had somehow transformed with a gasp. Turning back around, I whistled at the design that they had created. Even though this wasn't the first time I had seen Caelia do this, it was still an impressive sight – the end result, that is.

In each of her hands, was an oddly shaped sword. With most of it being red and the other part of it being black, the two swords were certainly unique, however, what set it apart from other blades, was certainly the design of its blade.

There was no crossguard attached; in fact, part of the blade curved downward on one side which could act as an improvised crossguard, while the other side curved upward, being curving inward onto the blade. Curving back out, it came to a small point, before curving inward and racing forward to a slight incline, before curving impressively around to a third point, and then bending diagonally forward and racing to the main point of the blade – its very end.

The other side, from where it acted as an improvised crossguard, it curved upward, dipping down into what could be compared as a small hole, before curving around. If one were to trace this curve and fill in the lines, you might create a lopsided heart. From that point, the blade made a sharp decline towards the center of the weapon, curving just as it reached the midpoint, and then sweeping back into a point – the curving reminded me of the waves of an ocean.

Curving from there, the blade gently fell down a decline before dragging itself back up for a third point, before falling back down sharply, and then, as it did on the other side, curved outward and then sped into a sharp decline, meeting the other side at the main point.

The coloring of the entire sword was red with black colored throughout it in a sort of mechanical fashion, with plenty of curves and strange turns, but the sword was impressive. It was as tall as Caelia was, making it almost five feet in total, with most of it being from the blade itself.

And Caelia carried two of those, one in each hand.

Glancing at Arthur, I could tell that he was still in shock from seeing something like this, to which I grinned. '_Though not that smart, Caelia has some impressive abilities. And even without that, she is also incredibly sharp – her instincts are second to none._'

"Well, Arthur?" I asked him, causing the paled face boy to turn towards me slowly. "Do you want to spar against Caelia?"

It took several moments of inhaling and exhaling, in an attempt to calm himself down, in order to answer my question. As he battled against his own nervousness and attempted to calm his emotions and body, Arthur's face slowly regained its original color and he began to think, judging by the frown he wore upon his face.

When he finally opened his mouth to speak, I grinned at his answer. "I'm ready – but I have yet to move from practicing with wooden swords, thus, your… whatever that was, was in complete vain."

After finishing saying his line and adjusting the position of the glasses on his face with his index finger, causing a strange glint to appear against the lens, Caelia opened her mouth, attempting to argue with him. However, only strange, gibberish sounding words came out, and Caelia quickly ceased her actions and dropped the swords.

Looking down at her feet, her hair sprayed over her eyes, causing neither Arthur nor I to be able to see them. A shadow displayed over them, Caelia's lips opened, revealing sharp fangs. Then, with a low growl, she raised her foot and brought it down on one of the blades, before repeating the action to the other.

Arthur, seeing her suddenly become violent against the swords she had created from her own horn, had no words to say as she continued to stomp on the weapon, breaking the two swords into tiny pieces. Without skipping a beat, the broken remnants of her swords forged from her own horn burst into a small red flame, before melting away, leaving not even ashes behind. The grass wasn't even disturbed in the slightest.

Grasping at the stump that remained on her head, her hands rubbed against it. As the two of us watched, one in shocked silence and me in amusement, a bright orange glow encapsulated Caelia's hands and broken protrusion. Then, grabbing the stump with her right hand, she pulled – pulling out a new horn from her own horn.

At seeing a horn jutting out of her skull from her action of pulling against it, Arthur took a half step back from shock and dismay. Caelia breathed out heavily, tears in her eyes – most likely from the pain of ripping her horn out earlier and then having to grow it back out – turned back to Arthur and, with some struggle, spoke in a raspy manner, dark bags under her eyes and body heaving in what could only be described as exhaustion.

"Then… wooden… sword… we… fight?" She breathed, sweat slipping off her skin and falling to the grass below. Arthur numbly nodded and Caelia smiled, her expression immediately brightening. Reaching for her other horn, Arthur blinked, and then quickly raised his voice as he lunged forward, grasping Caelia's hand in his own forcefully, eyes wide.

"Please don't break another horn off!" He pleaded with the girl, who merely blinked at his demand. At this, I turned away from the two and covered my mouth with a hand, holding back laughter as I did so. At noticing this, Arthur looked over at me in confusion, his grip on Caelia's hand lessoning.

Without really noticing his loss of grip, Caelia simply moved away from Arthur, breaking his grip on her hand and then finished moving it to her horn, her nails touching against it. Eyes opening wider, Arthur opened his mouth to shout-

And then Caelia scratched her horn with her nails, stopping Arthur in his tracks, a hand raised out to stop her. Parting her lips, Caelia answered his unspoken question. "I was just remedying an itch…"

A few seconds past, in which Arthur stood stock still, his face as red as a tomato. Removing her hand, she bent down and picked up the stick that I had used to poke her earlier but had dropped after she had woken up. At this point, Arthur let his arm drop down as he figured out what Caelia was about to do.

"Wait… then, you can? What?" He questioned, confused. Though the answer appeared to be on the tip of his tongue, he simply could not bring himself to speak it, lest he embarrasses himself even further.

I nodded, drawing his attention. "You guessed right; Caelia possesses a natural affinity for Transmutation magic." Blinking, Arthur switched his attention from me back to Caelia as she snapped the stick into two with her index finger and thumb. "Though she isn't that great at magic in general, she has enough talent for it that she can circumvent her own lack of talent in magic by utilizing it. Though like all Dragons and Evil Dragons, she possesses her own Dragon fire – her natural skill is, in fact, Transmutation. Be it with her own body, or with something else…" As Caelia twirled the twigs, a white light hushed over it, and when she finished, the twigs had transformed into wooden copies of the former sword she had created. "…she can create, as you've guessed, swords. And only swords. Isn't that weird?" Scratching the back of her head with one of the wooden swords, Caelia giggled, a blush settling on her cheeks.

"Haha, stop praising me!" She gushed, her eyes closed, and lips set in a wide smile, a few pointy fangs sparkling as they caught the light of the sun. Arthur lowered his head, unbelieving in what he had just heard. Without being told, Caelia explained her power of Transmutation. "By touching something solid with the palm of my hands or my mouth, I can transform practically anything into a sword! I can do it slowly, or fast! In the blink of an eye, in a blind of light, one will appear!"

Gesturing widely as she explained, she nearly bonked Arthur on the head with the wooden sword, but he managed to move his head back and out of the way – a moment after the weapon swung past him. Sensing danger, he took a step back, sweating nervously.

Then, remembering why we were there in the first place, Caelia grinned smugly, tossing Arthur one of the wooden swords. Catching it easily, regardless of his nervousness, Arthur stared down at the weapon.

"It's… light?"

"It's as light as the object I used!" Caelia explained, proud in her own ability, puffing out her chest as she did. Arthur blinked and gave the weapon a few test swings before nodding.

"It's perfect." He remarked with surprise. Caelia smiled from the praise, but this time, she was not distracted. Turning to me, she nodded, to which I walked backward a few paces. Catching my movement, Arthur glanced at me, and then realized the situation. Breathing out a sigh of acceptance, he turned back to Caelia, moving into his original stance.

Caelia simply stood there with the wooden sword held loosely in her left hand, a wide grin on her face, a fang pressing out between her lips.

Raising my arm up, I looked to my right at Arthur and then left at Caelia. After counting to three in my head, I brought it down sharply, as if swinging a blade. "Begin!"

The moment that word left my mouth, Arthur was on the ground. Caelia slid to a stop past him, the sword swung out to her side, a prideful glint in her eyes. She was bent at the knees, though she quickly moved back into her former stance as she spun back around to face Arthur, who slowly got back up, astonished at her overwhelming speed.

I sighed in exasperation. '_This reminds me of when we began training and she had knocked me out in a single punch. I still get goosebumps remembering it._'

"Idiot don't go too hard!" I reprimanded Caelia, a bite in my words. Though I didn't really put much effort into my tone, Caelia shrank back from it regardless. '_She's very receptive to praise; but also, to criticism._' Shaking my lowered head as if annoyed, I watched from the top of my eyes to see Caelia lower her head in shame. Her body shaking, she pursed her lips in frustration. However, a single voice stopped her, causing her to look up, and me to be surprised.

"Doesn't matter to me," Arthur said, moving back into stance, though he was breathing quickly from the strain. "It's an honor to battle someone as strong as you, so there's no need in showing shame in how strong you are." His words caused Caelia to tear up slightly and a smile lit up onto her face, cheeks reddening slightly from his words and especially from the praise. "And as such – come at me again!"

"With pleasure and more!" Caelia shouted, dashing towards Arthur, though she had still toned down her speed so that the boy could react to her approach. I shook my head with a hand pressed against the side of it, a smile on my face. '_Much like with criticism, praise is, again, one of Caelia's weaknesses. Bravo to you Arthur._'

For the next several minutes from there, Arthur and Caelia were locked into an intense match. Though Caelia was never hit by Arthur, Arthur had been knocked down several times. However, each time without fail, he managed to get back up. Though his outfit had been ruined by the stains of grass and dirt, sweat covering it and his flesh, he still forced his body to move on, yelling out in encouragement and concentration.

I stared at the two battle it out, eyes dulled as thoughts circulated my head. '_I want to become stronger._' I thought to myself with force, hands moving into fists at my side. My nails pressed against my skin to the point that it hurt, yet I did not alleviate the pressure. '_I know what will happen in the future, yet I'm messing around with a simple birthday party. Why is my eighth year of being born so important anyway? Why can't I simply be training with Caelia, instead of watching her spar with Arthur?_'

Shaking my head, I threw away such thoughts. I still had time – yet I found that I could only worry as the two continued to trade blows with one another. The sound of wood against wood filled the air as each strike sent the wind blowing against me, the grass, and the leaves which grew upon the trees. The clouds marched on, unconcerned in the small match.

Caelia grinned, ducking underneath a horizontal slash, before elbowing Arthur in the chest. Grunting, but seemingly unfazed by the strike, he delivered another strike, a vertical, down upon Caelia, but she disengaged in the beat of a heart, just barely moving out of range of Arthur's strike. Bringing his sword back up, Arthur leaped at her, bringing it back down once more.

However, before Caelia could mount a defense against him, a voice reached out from the distance, gaining Caelia's attention over Arthur.

"Caelia, the Master and Mistress wish for your return in the kitchen." Evelyn's voice called out from across the way as she slowly made her way over in a walk. Her hands held together in front of her, her face was as unexpressive as always.

At seeing her appear, Caelia grinned eagerly. "The cake is ready~!" She sang in a loud voice, completely forgetting about Arthur who was unable to move his attack out of the way, due to him having leaped forward at Caelia.

His wooden sword cut down through the air and rammed straight into Caelia's skull, however, the girl did not notice. The sword, on the other hand, certainly noticed the unmovable wall and split down the middle, breaking into two from the contact against Caelia's head.

Running away as Arthur's feet landed back upon the ground, who stared at the broken wooden sword in surprise – though I was no different than him – Caelia ran towards Evelyn, who stopped moving and simply let Caelia approach her.

The two of us turned our heads to look at each other, before staring after Caelia, who jumped at Evelyn for a hug, though the other maid stepped out of the way in the last moment, causing Caelia to fall to the ground below.

At the sight of the girl who had just completely thrashed Arthur in a fight, the two of us collectively breathed out a sigh, slumping down in defeat.

"That girl… Caelia, was it?" At seeing me nod, he continued. "Is strong. I hold no doubt that she was formerly an Evil Dragon, and yet…"

"I know how you feel, and I haven't even started weapons training yet…" I suddenly found myself shivering, though not from fear. Slapping my cheeks, I shook my head, attempting to recollect myself. "It's the pain that I will be going through…" As if explaining my thoughts to him, I spoke up nervously.

"I know what you mean." Arthur nodded, agreeing with what I had said, light glinting off the lens of his glasses as he adjusted them with his index finger. "Training with father is harsh and training with mother is even harsher, but I still can't figure out what's worse; training with that maid, or my mother."

We shared a glance with the other, faces pale. At the same time, we spoke the same words, even though our thoughts were on the same goal of getting stronger.

"I don't want to train!" We complained, letting our bodies lay back against the grass. Though I had not participated in the spar, I somehow felt exhausted. I wonder why? Sneezing, I wiped the back of my arm against my nose, closing my eyes as I did so.

'_I wonder if someone is talking about me…_'

With those thoughts, I let my body begin to relax on the bed of grass as my blanket of wind rushed over my body gently.

* * *

**Hey guys, thank you for reading!**

**Now then, to explain why this chapter took almost an entire month to write? Well... I was doing revisions to what was going to happen, writing things down, then I had a bit of writer's block, which was quickly cured, but then the Halloween event in FGO came out, so I had to get my Mecha Eli-chan before I lost my chance (just like how I lost my chance at doing Nero Fest this year), so I have been a bit busy.**

**Not only with that, but with finding a new job; I did not lose my current one, but I may be getting a better job soon. However... it's going to be a twelve-hour job if I do manage to get it, which will be five days in a row from what I had been told so possibly Monday to Friday, twelve hours each day.**

**The pay is almost double what I currently make (though I might be getting a small raise soon, which will still make my current job still less worth it because it has fewer hours and less pay), so I'll be making a lot more money now... if I get it.**

**In any case, the second half of this chapter will be coming out hopefully this weekend, so stay tuned for that!**

**FinzDragzer -**

**My response: **_Ravel's first appearance will be at the end of the first volume in an interlude. Doesn't make sense for me to just throw her in willy-nilly, you know? That wouldn't make much sense, so I'm going for the long con, the best con, in my opinion._

**ServantDreamer -**

**My response: **_Yeah, I never did like it when people just skip childhood and then say: yeah, he knows this and that and he's super powerful now. Like, it doesn't make much sense, how did he reach those points? Though it sometimes gets explained, so it can be excused. I, however, started this story casually and simply wanted to write something cringey without getting into the meat and potatoes straight away! As for the Rune teacher, well, all I can say is, wait until a much later volume._

**Creature of Grimm -**

**My response: **_:)_

**AnimeA55Kicker -**

**My response: **_Damn, so true. Not like he can help it anymore~_

**emiya-excalibur -**

**My response: **_Definitely true, prepared to see some really cool things in the future when his Time powers become more "tamed"._

**Staggi -**

**My response: **_Thank you, and our MC would rather do his own thing, though if he has to - he will contract himself with a Devil or perhaps some other Supernatural entity?_

**PasiveNox -**

**My response: **_Thank you!_

**I'm Da Bomb -**

**My response: **_It is true that Devils can understand all languages, however, he won't become a Devil! And, French might be what the main man Flamel himself spoke, buuuuttt, it will be explained why he doesn't speak it! And yes, I did answer this review already through a pm._

**Nihai -**

**My response: **_Damn man, thank you for the praise! Seems praise is my weakness... just like Caelia._

**xXxXx**

**Anyway, with all of the reviews now finished, I'm gonna end it off here! I have an appointment for a Twic Card later on, and I'm currently running on around two hours of sleep... and the appointment is in less than four hours from now. Well, this is what I get!**

**Now then, if you liked the story and want to see more, please follow! If you really, really, liked it, please favorite! If you want to tell me something cool, or ask a question, or give your own critique of the story so far, please leave it in a review or send it via a pm!**

**Ciao!**


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